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Public Information Office CB01-162 301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax) 301-457-1037 (TDD) e-mail: pio@census.gov Robert Mills 301-457-3213 Spanish Version | Radio Soundbites More People Have Health Insurance, Census Bureau Reports The number of people without health insurance declined by 600,000 between 1999 and 2000, from 39.3 million to 38.7 million, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau reported today. An estimated 14.0 percent of the population had no health insurance coverage during all of 2000, down from 14.3 percent in 1999. "The number and percentage of people covered by employment-based health insurance rose significantly in 2000, driving the overall increase in health insurance coverage," said Robert Mills, author of Health Insurance Coverage: 2000. Mirroring what happened for the total population, the number of uninsured children declined from 9.1 million to 8.5 million. About 11.6 percent of children under age 18 lacked coverage in 2000, down 1 percentage point from 1999. Other highlights: - Most of the population (64.1 percent) were covered by a health plan related to employment for some or all of 2000, an increase of 0.6 percentage points over the previous year. - Compared with the previous year, health insurance coverage rates increased for those with household incomes below $50,000, decreased for those with household incomes between $50,000 and $75,000, and were unchanged for those with household incomes of $75,000 and higher. - Reflecting widespread Medicare coverage, 99.3 percent of people age 65 and over were insured. Young adults (18-to-24 years old) remained the least likely (72.7 percent) to have insurance in 2000. - American Indians and Alaska Natives were the least likely of all racial groups to have health insurance. - The foreign-born population was less likely than the native population to be insured 68.4 percent compared with 88.1 percent in 2000. - Despite the Medicaid program, 9.2 million people, or 29.5 percent of all poor people, had no health insurance of any kind during 2000. This percentage, though twice that of the total population, dropped from 31.1 percent in 1999. - The proportion of people without health insurance ranged from 6.9 percent in Rhode Island to 22.6 percent in New Mexico, though the rate in New Mexico was not statistically different than the rate for Texas. The proportion of people without coverage fell in 18 states and rose in eight states. Estimates in the report reflect data collected using follow-up verification questions in the March 2000 and March 2001 supplements to the Current Population Survey (CPS). As a result of implementing the new methods, 1999 estimates in the report differ from those for 1999 published in September 2000. Thus, estimates in the current report are not directly comparable with CPS estimates for years prior to 1999. Data for American Indians and Alaska Natives, and for states, are based on three- year averages. Statistics from sample surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling errors.
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