Health insurance is a crucial aspect of our lives, providing financial protection against medical expenses. Here are some key facts and statistics about health insurance in 2024:
Prevalence of Health Insurance
In 2021, 91.7% of individuals in the United States had health insurance for all or some of the year ¹. Private health insurance was more popular than public coverage, with 66% of people having private insurance and 35.7% having public insurance ¹.
Uninsured Rates
The uninsured rate decreased from 2020 to 2021, with only 27.2 million people (8.3%) not having health insurance at any point during 2021 ¹. Hispanic adults had the highest uninsured rate at 30.1%, followed by Black adults at 14.1%, white adults at 8.7%, and Asian adults at 6.3% ¹.
Types of Health Insurance
The most popular type of health insurance coverage in 2021 was employer-based insurance, followed by Medicaid, Medicare, direct-purchase insurance, TRICARE, and VA or CHAMPVA insurance ¹.
Health Insurance Costs
The average monthly cost for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace plan was $928 for a Bronze plan, $1,217 for a Silver plan, and $1,336 for a Gold plan in 2023 ¹. The average yearly premium for family coverage was $22,463, while individual plans with single coverage had an annual premium of $7,911 in 2022 ¹.
Global Health Insurance
Globally, the world is off track to make significant progress towards universal health coverage (UHC) by 2030 ². About 4.5 billion people were not fully covered by essential health services in 2021, and 2 billion people faced financial hardship due to health costs ².
These statistics highlight the importance of health insurance in protecting individuals from financial hardship and ensuring access to essential health services.