Health News

Some 43 Million Lack Health Insurance

June 25, 2007 -- In the U.S., 43.6 million people of all ages -- almost 15% of the population -- lacked health insurance in 2006, the CDC reported today.

That figure is not significantly different from the CDC's 2005 overall estimated percentage of people without health insurance. But the CDC notes a slight increase in the percentage of uninsured people of working age.

In 2006, the U.S. had 36.5 million people aged 18-64 with no health insurance. That's 19.8% of people in that age group, up from 18.9% in 2005.

Data came from interviews with people in nearly 100,000 homes nationwide. Uninsured people were those without private, government, or military health insurance at the time of the interview.

Health Insurance Statistics

Hispanics, young adults, and men were particularly likely to report no health insurance.

Among Hispanics, 32% lacked health insurance, compared with nearly 16% of African-Americans and about 10% of whites.

Young adults were more likely than older or younger people to be uninsured. Nearly 30% of people aged 18-24 had no health insurance.

In comparison, the uninsured included about 9% of children younger than 18, almost 27% of adults aged 25-35, more than 18% of those aged 35-44, and 13% of adults aged 45-64. Medicare coveragegenerally begins at age 65.

Among adults aged 18-44, men were more likely than women to report having no health insurance.

The report is posted on the CDC's web site.

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