March 1992 Current Population Survey Shows Health Insurance Coverage Up to 1991: Number of Medicaid Recipients Also Rises

The number of persons with health insurance coverage kept pace with the growth of the population between 1990 and 1991--with approximately 86% of the population insured. The most important new information regarding health insurance in the 1992 CPS is that the number of persons helped by the Medicaid program during the year rose by 2.6 million or 11% to almost 27 million in 1991. The number of persons with employer-sponsored health insurance stayed the same between 1990 and 1991, after a decrease in the previous year. The increase in Medicaid coverage may be due to the recession, and as the recession ends, the number of Medicaid recipients may fall. (ASPE Research Notes, Volume 4) [5 PDF pages]