What did health insurance coverage look like for U.S. adults in the first half of 2020 as the country slid into the worst public health and economic crises in generations?
See our latest @CommonwealthFnd Biennial Health Insurance Survey commonwealthfund.org/publications/i…
See our latest @CommonwealthFnd Biennial Health Insurance Survey commonwealthfund.org/publications/i…
Conducted since 2001, the Biennial uses three measures to gauge the adequacy of insurance coverage:
•whether people have insurance
•if insured, whether they had a gap in coverage in last year
•if insured, whether out-of-pocket costs & deductibles leave them underinsured
•whether people have insurance
•if insured, whether they had a gap in coverage in last year
•if insured, whether out-of-pocket costs & deductibles leave them underinsured
In the first half of 2020, 43.4% of U.S. working age adults were inadequately insured: 12.5% were uninsured, 9.5% were insured but had a gap in coverage in the past year, 21.3 percent were underinsured, all statistically unchanged from 2018. 
People of color, small business workers, people with low incomes, and young adults had the highest uninsured rates.
Underinsured rates were highest among people with individual market plans, but one-quarter of adults in employer plans are also underinsured
Half of adults who spent time uninsured or were underinsured reported problems paying medical bills or were paying off medical debt over time. A quarter of those who were continuously insured and did not meet the threshold for underinsurance also reported bill problems.
People who reported problems paying medical bills experienced lingering financial problems including damage to their credit ratings and depleted savings.
Deductibles can be both a disincentive to get care and a source of cost exposure and potential financial problems when people do get care
The US entered the pandemic with 30m uninsured & 40m underinsured. @urbaninstitute estimates 3.5 million more people will become uninsured by year's end. Millions more will suffer income loss through furloughs, wage cuts, and declining business revenue
urban.org/research/publi…
urban.org/research/publi…
Unless insurance coverage is expanded and premiums and deductibles in private coverage are reduced, many households will face health care costs that take up a growing share of shrinking budgets. Read the report commonwealthfund.org/publications/i…
