Health Insurance - Health Care Data

In 2024, 92.0 percent of the U.S. population—about 310 million people—had health insurance coverage for at least part of the year.
Private insurance remained more common than public programs, with 66.1 percent of individuals enrolled in private coverage compared with 35.5 percent enrolled in public coverage.
Among all types of health insurance, employment-based coverage continued to dominate, insuring 53.8 percent of the population for some or all of 2024. This was followed by Medicare (19.1 percent), Medicaid (17.6 percent), direct-purchase plans (10.7 percent), TRICARE (2.8 percent), and VA/CHAMPVA coverage (1.2 percent).
The overall private coverage rate increased by 0.7 percentage points from 2023 to 2024, largely due to a rise in direct-purchase insurance enrollment. In contrast, public coverage declined by 0.8 percentage points, driven primarily by a 1.3-point reduction in Medicaid enrollment. During the same period, both Medicare and VA/CHAMPVA saw increases in coverage rates.
Insurance coverage trends also shifted by age group. Private coverage increased for both children under 19 and adults ages 19 to 64, rising from 61.2% to 63.0% for children and from 73.1% to 74.0% for working-age adults. At the same time, public coverage decreased for both groups, with children’s public coverage falling from 36.2% in 2023 to 34.2% in 2024