information for practice

Estimates of the health insurance status of the U.S. civilian non-institutionalized population are critical to policymakers and others concerned with access to medical care and the cost and quality of that care. Health insurance helps people get timely access to medical care and protects them against the risk of expensive and unanticipated medical events. When estimating the size of the uninsured population, it is important to consider the distinction between those uninsured for short periods of time and those who are uninsured for several years. Using information from the Household Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS-HC) for 2004 and 2005, this Statistical Brief provides detailed estimates for the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized non-elderly (under age 65) population that was uninsured for the entire 2002–2005 period and identifies groups most at risk of lacking any coverage over that four-year period.