Eighty-three percent of nonelderly
Americans and 99 percent of elderly Americans (aged 65
and over) were covered by either public or private health
insurance in 1991, according to EBRI tabulations of the
March 1992 Current Population Survey (CPS). The March
1992 CPS is the most recent data available on the number
and characteristics of uninsured Americans.
In 1991, 16.6 percent of the
nonelderly population—or 36.3 million people—were not
covered by private health insurance and did not receive
publicly financed health assistance. This number compares
with 35.7 million in 1990 (16.6 percent), 34.4 million in
1989 (16.1 percent), and 33.6 million in 1988 (15.9
percent).
The most important determinant of
health insurance coverage is employment. Nearly
two-thirds (64 percent) of the nonelderly have
employment-based coverage. Workers were much more likely
to be covered by group health plans than nonworkers (71
percent versus 40 percent).
Even though workers and members of
their families were more likely to be covered by health
insurance than nonworkers, 85 percent of the uninsured
lived in families headed by workers in 1991, primarily
because most people live in families headed by workers.
More than 60 percent of the uninsured were in families
headed by full-year workers with no unemployment.
Nearly all persons who were covered
by an employment based-plan received at least some
contribution to that plan from their employer. The
estimated average annual contribution among those
receiving a contribution to employee or family plans was
$2,129.
Although many individuals in poor
families are covered by public health plans, that
coverage is far from universal. In 1991, only 52 percent
of the nonelderly with income below the poverty line were
covered by a public plan—49 percent by Medicaid.
The number of children who were
uninsured in 1991 was 9.5 million, or 14.7 percent to of
all children, compared with 9.8 million or 15.3 percent
of all children in 1990. Twenty-three percent of children
were covered by public health insurance, with 21 percent
being covered by Medicaid.
In 11 states and the District of
Columbia, more than 20 percent of the population was
uninsured in 1991. These states and their uninsured rates
were the District of Columbia (30.3 percent), Texas (25.3
percent), New Mexico (24.5 percent), Louisiana (23.8
percent), Florida (23.5 percent), Mississippi (22.1
percent), Oklahoma (22.1 percent), Nevada (21.8 percent),
California (21.7 percent), Arizona (21.1 percent),
Alabama (20.6 percent), and Idaho (20.6 percent).
