Health Insurance of Minorities in the United States

Abstract

Americans who are not covered by some type of health insurance are exposed to health and financial risks. Most of the population is protected from these risks by private insurance, generally obtained as an employment benefit. Public programs such as Medicare and Medicaid protect certain populations among the remainder without private insurance. However, one out of every six Americans under the age of 65 is uninsured, and the number of uninsured persons has increased by 40 percent over the last decade. Blacks and Hispanics accounted for a large portion (50 percent) of the additional 13 million persons who were uninsured in 1987 compared to 1977. Several factors contributed to the rapid increase in the number of uninsured persons in these minority groups. First, the number of blacks and Hispanics in the U.S. population grew more rapidly over the decade than the number of whites. Between 1977 and 1987, the white population under 65 increased about 4 percent. The black population increased 17 percent, more than four times as fast as the number of whites. The Hispanic population increased 65 percent, more than 16 times faster than whites. Consequently, even if the proportion of blacks and Hispanics without coverage were the same as the proportion of uninsured whites, the number of uninsured persons in these minority groups would have increased more rapidly. In reality, relatively more blacks and Hispanics than whites were uninsured in 1977, and the disparities grew even more pronounced over the decade.