Number of uninsured CT residents continues down despite COVID
The latest numbers from the US Census on US health coverage last year find that there were 184,000 uninsured Connecticut residents (5.2%) in 2021, down 23,000 from 2019 (at 5.9%). Both years were far below 2013, before implementation of the Affordable Care Act, when 333,000 or 9.4% of state residents were uninsured. Employer-sponsored coverage has continued its very slow erosion that began long before the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid enrollment continues to grow. This gradual but large shift is moving more Connecticut residents from private to public health coverage.
As in the past, fewer Connecticut residents are without health coverage than most Americans (5.2% vs. 8.6% last year). Both trends dropped in 2014 with implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
Connecticut’s uninsured rate mirrors nearby comparable states. Massachusetts’s rate has been consistently lower, and New Jersey’s rate has been higher than the rest of the region.
Most Connecticut residents continue to receive coverage through an employer-based plan. Connecticut residents are slightly more likely to have employer coverage than other Americans (58.7% vs. 54.7%). Medicaid is an important coverage option for children in Connecticut, covering over one in three state residents under age 19.
Both US and Connecticut employer-based coverage rates have been slowly declining, beginning with the 2008 recession. Implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2014 had little or no effect on the rate of employer-based coverage.
Medicaid coverage has been rising in both the US and in Connecticut since the 2008 recession and grew further with implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2014. Medicaid enrollment has been growing faster in Connecticut, surpassing the US rate in 2018.
As Connecticut employer coverage has dropped, enrollment in Medicaid, a safety net program, has grown keeping the rate of uninsurance down. This trend represents a large but gradual shift of Connecticut residents from private into public coverage.
Source: Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2021, US Census, September 13, 2022, https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2022/demo/p60-278.html