Adults

• An estimated 38.7 million people in the United States had no health insurance coverage in 2000, a decrease of .6 million from the previous year. About one in five blacks (19.5%) were uninsured in 2000, a percentage similar to that among Asians and Pacific Islanders (18.8%). Hispanics were the most likely to be uninsured (32.8%) and white non-Hispanics the least likely (10.1%).

• Medicaid notwithstanding, 9.2 million poor people, representing nearly three in every ten (29.5%) of all poor people, had no health insurance in 2000. Within each racial and ethnic group, the poor were more likely to be uninsured. Among the poor, Hispanics were again the most likely to be without health insurance (43%) in 2000, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders (36.5%), white non-Hispanics (31%), and African Americans (24.5%).

• Other groups most likely to be without health insurance coverage included young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 (27.3%), those without high school diplomas (26.6%), part-time workers (20.7%), and persons who are foreign born (31.6% ).

• The percentage of the population without health insurance decreased from 15.6% in 1996 to 15% in 2000. The percentage of people without health insurance ranged from 6.9% among those in households with incomes of $75,000 or more to 22.7% for those in households with incomes of less than $25,000.

• Comparisons of two-year moving averages (1998-99 and 1999-2000), show that the proportion of people without coverage fell in 18 states (Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and Wisconsin). Meanwhile the proportion without coverage rose in 8 states (Alaska, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Vermont, and Washington.

Children Under 18-Years-Old

• The number of uninsured children declined from 10.7 million in 1997 to 8.5 million (11.6% of all children) in 2000. There were only slight differences in the percentage of uninsured among children by age group. In 2000, 11.1% of children under 6, 11.5% of children 6 to 11, and 12.3% of those 12 to 17 had no health insurance.

• In 2000, Hispanic children were far less likely to have health insurance (24.9%) than white non-Hispanic (7.3%) or black (13.6%) children.

• 2.5 million, (or 21.5%) of poor children were without health insurance in 2000. Among all poor children, about 31% of Hispanics, 28.5% of Asian/Pacific Islanders, 18.4% of white non-Hispanics, and 15.2% of black children had no health insurance coverage.

• In 2000, about one out of five children (20.4%) were covered by Medicaid. Black (35.8%) and Hispanic (32%) children were more likely to have Medicaid coverage than either white non-Hispanic (13.2%) or Asian/Pacific Islander children (18.6%).

 

References

Bennefield, Robert. United States Census Bureau, Number of Americans Without Health Insurance Coverage Increases in 1997, Census Bureau Reports http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-172.html September 1998

Bennefield, Robert. United States Census Bureau. Health Insurance Coverage: 1997.
http://www.census.gov/prod/3/98pubs/p60-202.pdf. Accessed September 1998.

Mills, Robert. United States Census Bureau. Health Insurance Coverage: 2000. http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/p60-215.pdf. Accessed October 2001.

United States Census Bureau. Children's Health Insurance http://www.census.gov/hhes/hlthins/chldhins/chhitxt.html Accesses October 2001.

 

Prepared by Cassandra Cantave and Roderick Harrison for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. October 2001.

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