The Rate of Kids Without Health Insurance Holds at 5%

Since the Great Reces­sion end­ed in 2009, the pro­por­tion of chil­dren with­out health insur­ance has declined by 44% — going from 7.1 mil­lion to 3.9 mil­lion unin­sured kids nationwide.

From 2009 to 2015, the risk of a child grow­ing up with­out health insur­ance dropped annu­al­ly. Over the last three years, how­ev­er, this sta­tis­tic has flat­lined at 5% of the nation’s child population.

At the state lev­el, Cal­i­for­nia has seen the great­est dip in its unin­sured kids count. In 2009, 10% of chil­dren in the Gold­en State were with­out insur­ance. By 2017, this sta­tis­tic improved 70%, mean­ing just 3% of kids in Cal­i­for­nia now lack health insurance.

The most recent data on record, from 2017, indi­cate that kids in Mass­a­chu­setts are least like­ly to lack health insur­ance (1%) while kids in Texas are most like­ly to be unin­sured (11%).

When com­pared to their unin­sured peers, chil­dren with insur­ance are more like­ly to grow up in good health and receive med­ical care. Such a healthy start car­ries clear ben­e­fits, includ­ing improved aca­d­e­m­ic out­comes and greater eco­nom­ic secu­ri­ty in adult­hood, accord­ing to research.

View data on chil­dren 18 and younger with­out health insur­ance.