Uninsured Myths and Facts

1 MYTH: People without health coverage don't work. FACT: More than eight in 10 of the non-elderly uninsured (82.8 percent) live in families where the head of the family works.1
2 MYTH: Most people without health insurance are very poor. FACT: In 2006, more than 33 million of the uninsured had household incomes of $25,000 or more, compared with nearly 14 million in households earning less.2 (The federal poverty level for a family of four in 2006 was $20,000.)
3 MYTH: It doesn’t really matter whether a person has health insurance. FACT: An estimated 18,000 - 22,000 Americans die each year because they don't have health coverage.3
4 MYTH: Virtually everyone who works for a large employer has health coverage. FACT: One in five uninsured workers (22.4 percent) are employed in firms with 500 or more employees.4

Sources

1 Employee Benefit Research Institute estimates from the March Current Population Survey, 2007 Supplement.
2 "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2006." U.S. Census Bureau, August 2007, table 6, p. 21.
3 "Final Report Release Event – Insuring America's Health: Principles and Recommendations." Institute of Medicine, January 14, 2004. and Dorn, S. "Uninsured and Dying Because of It: Updating the Institute of Medicine Analysis on the Impact of Uninsurance on Mortality." Urban Institute, 2008.
4 Fronstin P. "Sources of Health Insurance and Characteristics of the Uninsured: Analysis of the March 2007 Current Population Survey." Employee Benefit Research Institute, October 2007, figure 11, p. 14.

Please note that EBRI's analysis defines children as individuals ages 0-17, whereas other sources may define children as ages 0-18. This difference accounts for the variance between the reported numbers of uninsured children, depending on the source and method of analysis.

 

Other Related Fact Sheets

Overview

Age & Gender

Children

Immigration Status and Nativity

Race/Ethnicity

Educational Attainment

Income & Poverty Status

Workers

Quick Facts on the Uninsured

Children's Health Care Coverage