Table 1.2. Number and percent of persons aged under age 65 years with public health plan and private health insurance coverage, by age group: United States, 1997–2002

NOTES: The category "public coverage" includes Medicare (disability), Medicaid, State Children’s Health Insurance Program, State-sponsored or other government-sponsored health plan, and military plans. The category "private health insurance" excludes plans that paid for only one type of service such as accidents or dental care. A small number of persons were covered by both public and private plans and are included in both categories. The analysis excluded persons with unknown health insurance status (about 1% of respondents). The data on type of coverage were edited using an automated system based on logic checks and keyword searches. For comparability, the estimates for all years were created using these same procedures. The resulting estimates of persons having public or private coverage are within 0.1 percentage point of those based on both automated and manual editing procedures used for the final data files.

DATA SOURCE: Family Core component of the 1997-2002 National Health Interview Surveys. The estimate for 2002 was based on data collected from January through June.

From January through June 2002, 15.3% of persons under age 65 years were covered by public plans, and 70.4% were covered by private health insurance plans.

From 1999 through June 2002, the percent covered by public health plans increased from 12.4% to 15.3%, whereas the percent of persons under age 65 years covered by private health insurance decreased from 73.1% to 70.4%.

For children under age 18 years, the percent of those with public coverage significantly increased to 27.2% in January-June 2002 from 23.4% in 2001. In contrast, the percent of children covered by private health insurance plans decreased from 67.1% in 2001 to 64.5% in January-June 2002.

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This page last reviewed June 29, 2007