Health Insurance Trends: 2011

Amazingly, the percentage of Americans without health insurance fell between 2010 and 2011. In 2011, 15.7 percent of the population did not have health insurance, down from 16.3 percent in 2010--a statistically significant decline, according to the Census Bureau. This decline occurred despite the struggling economy and the continuing loss of employment-based health insurance. Since 2000, the percentage of the population covered by employment-based health insurance has fallen by a full 10 percentage points, from 65.1 to 55.1 percent.

Medicare is one of the reasons more Americans have health insurance. Now that millions of baby boomers are turning 65, Medicare coverage is growing. Between 2010 and 2011, the percentage of the population covered by Medicare climbed from 14.6 to 15.2 percent. 

Source: Census Bureau, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2011