Who Goes Without Health Insurance?

An estimated 40.6 million people in the United States (15.4 percent) were without health insurance coverage during the entire 1995 calendar year, statistically unchanged from the previous year.

Employment is the leading source of health insurance coverage.

Most people (70.3 percent) were covered by a private insurance plan for some or all of 1995. A private plan is one that was offered through employment (either one’s own or a relative’s) or privately purchased. Most private insurance was obtained through a current or former employer or union (employment-based) (see figure 1).

The remaining insured people had government coverage. This includes Medicare (13.1 percent), Medicaid (12.1 percent), and military health care (3.5 percent). Many people carry coverage from more than one plan.