Eighty-four million people—nearly half of all working-age U.S. adults—went without health insurance for a time last year or were underinsured because of high out-of-pocket costs relative to income, according to a new study based on findings from the Commonwealth Fund's 2012 Biennial Health Insurance Survey.
At the same time, the report finds that the proportion of young adults who were uninsured during the year fell from 48 percent to 41 between 2010 and 2012, reversing a decade-long trend for the 19-to-25 age group. The health reform law's provision allowing young people to remain on their parents' health insurance until age 26 is likely the reason for the improvement, the authors say.
Visit commonwealthfund.org to read complete survey results and to use our interactive feature, "The Price of Being Uninsured." Also see a blog post on key measures of insurance coverage and affordability of care in California, Florida, New York, and Texas.