CDC Vital Signs - Access to Health Care

Vital Signs

Access to Health Care

A record number of adults 18–64 years old are uninsured

Diagram of a person overlaid with an icon of a cross with 1 in 4., an icon of people with the number 1 in 3, and an icon of medicince with 7X.

About 25 percent of adults 18–64 years old report being uninsured for at least part of the past 12 months (January-March 2010 survey).

About 32 percent of adults 18–64 years old living in middle-income households report being uninsured for at least part of the past 12 months (2009 survey)*.

Adults 18-64 years old with no health insurance at all in the past 12 months were 7 times more likely to skip medical care for cost reasons, compared with those continuously insured (2009 survey).

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CDC Vital Signs offers recent data on the important health topics of key diseases, conditions, or risk factors. Data is gathered from CDC's national monitoring systems to communicate our data in important areas of public health, and the ways people can increase their health, prevent or control disease.

New 2010 estimates show that the number of Americans without health insurance is growing, affecting middle-income Americans as well as those living in poverty. About 50 million adults 18–64 years old had no health insurance for at least some of the past 12 months. People in all income brackets have been affected, not just adults living in poverty, according to a 2009 survey. In the past few years, the number of adults aged 18–64 who went without health insurance for at least part of the past 12 months increased by an average of 1.1 million per year. About half of those additional adults were middle-income.* Adults without consistent health insurance are more likely to skip medical care because of cost concerns, which can lead to poorer health, higher long-term health care costs, and early death.

*About $43,000–$65,000 household income for a household of four

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