Summary
Over 149 Million Nonelderly Americans Have Employment-Based Health Insurance, 41.4 Million Uninsured, According to March 1997 CPS—Over 165 million Americans under age 65—70.9 percent of the nonelderly population— received private health insurance coverage during 1996, according to Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) estimates of the March 1997 Current Population Survey (CPS). Over 41 million—17.7 percent of nonelderly Americans—did not have private or public health insurance during any part of 1996. This is up from 40.3 million, or 17.4 percent, in 1995. However, further analysis reveals that children experienced a disproportionate increase in the probability of being uninsured. In 1996, 14.8 percent of children were uninsured, compared with 13.8 percent in 1995. Furthermore, while the number of nonelderly uninsured increased by 1.1 million between 1995 and 1996, children felt this increase the most, as the number of uninsured children increased by 800,000 and the number of uninsured adults increased by 300,000.