U.S. health insurance in 2020: a looming crisis in affordability : findings from the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey, 2020
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Survey brief (Commonwealth Fund)
- Author(s):
- Collins, Sara R., author Gunja, Munira Z., author Aboulafia, Gabriella N., author
- Contributor(s):
- Commonwealth Fund, issuing body.
- Publication:
- [New York, N.Y.] : The Commonwealth Fund, August 2020
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Insurance Coverage -- statistics & numerical data Insurance Coverage -- trends Medically Uninsured -- statistics & numerical data United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- 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 crisis in generations? In this brief, we present findings from the Commonwealth Fund's latest Biennial Health Insurance Survey, which assesses the extent and quality of coverage for U.S. working-age adults. We've conducted this survey since 2001. It uses three measures to gauge the adequacy of insurance coverage: (1) whether or not people have insurance; (2) if they have insurance, whether they experienced a gap in coverage in the prior year; (3) whether high out-of-pocket costs and deductibles are causing them to be underinsured, despite having continuous coverage throughout the year. The survey began on January 14, 2020--just before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. We interviewed a nationally representative sample of 4,272 adults ages 19 to 64 about their health insurance coverage through June 5. (See "How We Conducted This Study" for more detail.) Despite the severity of the pandemic and the abrupt disruption in economic activity beginning in March, the survey did not find statistically significant changes in coverage from the last time it was conducted in 2018. But it does show a persistent vulnerability among working-age adults in their ability to afford coverage and health care that could worsen if the economic downturn continues.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (23 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101773116 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101773116