Twenty-one percent of Americans lacked health insurance for at least 1 month over the course of the 1991 calendar year; 20 percent had a coverage lapse during 1992. (These two proportions were not statistically different from one another.)

... and approximately 1 in 4 had a lapse over a 32-month period.

Over the span of a 32-month period (February 1991 to September 1993), the proportion without continuous coverage stood at 27 percent. The chances of having a lapse have risen: in the 32 months between February 1990 and September 1992, 25 percent lacked continuous coverage.