BEYOND THE NUMBERS
Census Data Show Continued Wide Disparities in Health Coverage
Certain groups of Americans continue to be uninsured at particularly high rates, the new Census Bureau data show. African Americans and Hispanics, residents of the South and West, adults under age 35, and households with incomes under $50,000 had uninsured rates in 2013 well above the national average of 13.8 percent (see chart). Hispanics’ 24.3 percent uninsured rate, for example, was nearly twice the national average.
These estimates, from the Current Population Survey (CPS), are the best source for comparing coverage rates among population groups in a single year but can’t be compared to CPS estimates from previous years because of changes to the CPS questions for 2013. For health coverage trends over time, one should look instead to Census’ American Community Survey data, which we discussed yesterday.
Health reform’s major coverage expansions — the Medicaid expansion in many states to cover more low-income adults and the availability of subsidies for private marketplace coverage — will help reduce the disparities in health coverage among population groups. But the expansions didn’t begin until 2014, so the new Census figures for 2013 don’t capture those coverage gains. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data yesterday covering the first quarter of 2014, and they show that the coverage gains in 2014 were greatest among some of the groups with the highest uninsured rates, including young adults, Latinos, and low-income households.
