About 15 percent of people currently uninsured in US

(HealthDay)—In 2012, nearly 15 percent of U.S. people of all ages were currently uninsured, according to a data brief published online June 18 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

Robert A. Cohen, Ph.D., and Michael E. Martinez, M.P.H., from the NCHS in Hyattsville, Md., used data for 108,131 participants in the National Health Interview Survey Family Core 2012 to estimate health insurance coverage for the civilian non-institutionalized U.S. population.

The researchers found that at the time of the interview, 14.7 percent were currently uninsured; 18.6 percent had been uninsured for at least part of the preceding year; and 11.1 percent had been uninsured for more than one year. At the time of the interview, in 2012, 6.6 percent of children and 26.4 percent of 19- to 25-year-olds were currently uninsured. Among the 43 states included in the report, there was variation in the proportion uninsured, from 4.8 percent in Massachusetts to 20.9 percent in Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. About one-third (31.1 percent) of under 65-year-olds with private health insurance were enrolled in a high-deductible health plan (HDHP), including 10.8 percent in a consumer-directed health plan. Of those with a private plan obtained other than through employment, more than 50 percent were enrolled in a HDHP.

"In 2012, the percentage of persons uninsured at the time of interview was 14.7 percent (45.5 million) for persons of all ages," the authors write. "For all age groups, there were no significant changes between 2011 and 2012 in the percentage of persons uninsured at the time of interview."