How many uninsured Americans are there now?

[BlueCheese]

In September 2013, the Census Bureau estimated that about 48 million Americans lacked health insurance.

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/stories/2013/september/17/census-numbers-uninsured-numbers-remain-nearly-unchanged.aspx

Can anyone find an authoritative answer to how many Americans don't have health insurance today? I see the 7 million figure, but is that for all exchanges or just the federal one? Does it include those who signed up for expanded Medicaid (I'm guessing not)? How many of them already had insurance somewhere else beforehand?

Obviously 7 million people with insurance is a very good thing, and hopefully this means they'll get access to better health care than they had before. Just as evidently, our job isn't finished until we have truly universal care, in which we have 0 people without access to good health care. I'm curious how much progress has been made. Does anyone know?

Thanks in advance.

[DreamGypsy]

1. From the U.S. Census, 2012...

...http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/data/incpovhlth/2012/highlights.html

Highlights: 2012

In 2012, the percentage of people without health insurance decreased to 15.4 percent from 15.7 percent in 2011. The number of uninsured people in 2012 was not statistically different from 2011, at 48.0 million.

Both the percentage and number of people with health insurance increased in 2012 to 84.6 percent and 263.2 million, up from 84.3 percent and 260.2 million in 2011.

The percentage of people covered by private health insurance in 2012 was not statistically different from 2011, at 63.9 percent. This is the second consecutive year that the percentage of people covered by private health insurance was not statistically different from the previous year’s estimate. The number of people covered by private health insurance increased in 2012 to 198.8 million, up from 197.3 million in 2011.

The percentage and number of people covered by government health insurance increased to 32.6 percent and 101.5 million in 2012 from 32.2 percent and 99.5 million in 2011.

The percentage and number of people covered by employment-based health insurance in 2012 were not statistically different from 2011, at 54.9 percent and 170.9 million.

The percentage and number of people covered by Medicaid in 2012 were not statistically different from 2011, at 16.4 percent and 50.9 million. The percentage and number of people covered by Medicare increased in 2012 to 15.7 percent and 48.9 million, from 15.2 percent and 46.9 million in 2011.

Since 2009, Medicaid has covered more people than Medicare.

In 2012, the percentage and number of uninsured children under age 18 decreased to 8.9 percent and 6.6 million, down from 9.4 percent and 7.0 million in 2011. In 2012, the uninsured rate for children in poverty, 12.9 percent, was higher than the uninsured rate for children not in poverty, 7.7 percent.

The rate and number of uninsured non-Hispanic Whites in 2012 were not statistically different from 2011, at 11.1 percent and 21.6 million. The rate and the number of uninsured Blacks in 2012 were also not statistically different from 2011, at 19.0 percent and 7.6 million.

The percentage of uninsured Hispanics decreased in 2012 to 29.1 percent, down from 30.1 percent in 2011. The number of uninsured Hispanics in 2012 was not statistically different from 2011, at 15.5 million.

So, very roughly, if adding 3 million people with health insurance in 2012 bumped the percentage insured by 0.3%, then adding 7 million insured people in 2014 should increase the percentage insured by ~7%, suggesting that ~14.7% are still uninsured.

The Census Bureau doesn't provide a lot of projections for their data, so this guesstimate is just that. Adding 7 million people to the insured base reduces the uninsured by ~15%. Good, not great.

[Recursion]

2. About half of the 7 million were previously insured

Also there are 12 million or so illegal immigrants and whether you count them makes a lot of difference.

[joshcryer]

3. Saw a compelling argument about amnesty for immigrants.

Basically if they got amnesty it would be a boon for the ACA.

Still, we have a long way to go for universal coverage.

[Le Taz Hot]

5. They are counted.

[Le Taz Hot]

4. The figures will be out at the end of this month.

The insured/uninsured figures come from the American Community Survey and March's numbers will be out in April. Look for it on www.census.gov.