The uninsured: an analysis by age, income, and geography

Key Findings. (1) Assuming Medicaid expansion in each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia, a larger proportion of the rural (non-metropolitan) uninsured (43.5%) than the urban uninsured (38.5%) would be eligible for Medicaid. (2) In both urban and rural places, across the adult non-elderly population, uninsured rates decline dramatically with age. (3) Within each age group of the uninsured, rural people are less likely to have incomes above 400% of the federal poverty level (FPL), meaning that overall more rural uninsured would be eligible for some form of health insurance assistance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), either subsidized coverage in new marketplaces, or through Medicaid if all states were to implement expansion. (4) While over half of the uninsured in both rural and urban areas are younger than 40 years, the uninsured in rural areas are disproportionately older across all income categories, which reflects the age distribution in the population.