Why Did the Number of Uninsured Continue to Increase in 2005?

Publication Date: October 2006

Publisher: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

Author(s):

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

On August 29, 2006, the Census Bureau reported that the number of nonelderly uninsured Americans had increased in 2005 by another 1.3 million people—for a total of 46.1 million uninsured—continuing an upward trend that began in the year 2000. The changes in the rate of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) as well as in the uninsured rate in 2005, as in 2004, were substantially smaller than were seen from 2000-2003. The changes in 2005 differed from the changes in 2004 in that while there was a comparable decline in the rate of ESI in both years, there was virtually no increase in Medicaid and SCHIP in 2005 and thus the uninsured rate increased.

In 2004, there was an increase in Medicaid/SCHIP coverage that offset the ESI decline and there was no significant change in the uninsurance rate. The result was a greater increase in the number of nonelderly uninsured in 2005, 1.3 million, versus 850,000 in 2004. As in previous years, most of the increase in the uninsured was among adults. Of the 1.3 million increase in the number of uninsured in 2005, 1.0 million was among adults. Between 2000 and 2004, all of the increase was among adults and the number of uninsured children declined. In contrast, in 2005 the number of uninsured children increased. The small increase in the number of uninsured children (300,000) in 2005 reversed the small coverage gains among children (400,000 fewer uninsured) that had been made between 2000 and 2004.

In this paper we describe in more detail the changes that occurred in the past year and place them in the context of what has been happening since 2000.