With the economy rebounding and pandemic-era Medicaid protections and enhanced Marketplace subsides in place, the uninsured rate continued to drop in 2022, driven largely by increases in coverage among nonelderly adults. Coverage gains were larger among nonelderly American Indian and Alaska Native and Hispanic people compared to their White counterparts and among low-income individuals and those in working families versus those at higher incomes and those without a worker in the family.

Both the number of nonelderly uninsured and the uninsured rate among the nonelderly population reached all-time lows in 2022. Following enactment of the ACA, the number of uninsured nonelderly individuals dropped from more than 46.5 million in 2010 to fewer than 26.7 million in 2016, before climbing again prior to the pandemic during the Trump administration. In 2022, there were 25.6 million nonelderly uninsured people, over one million fewer than in 2016.

Compared to 2021, the drop in the number of people without health insurance in 2022 was driven by an increase in employer-sponsored, Medicaid, and non-group coverage among nonelderly adults. After falling during the first two years of the pandemic, the share of people with employer-sponsored insurance increased from 57.0% in 2021 to 57.5% in 2022. While Medicaid coverage rates did not change from 2021 to 2022, the share of people with nongroup coverage increased from 7.3% in 2021 to 7.5% in 2022. 

There is A Better Way