Eighty-four million people―nearly half of all working-age U.S. adults―went without health insurance for a time last year or had out-of-pocket costs that were so high relative to their income they were considered underinsured, according to the Commonwealth Fund 2012 Biennial Health Insurance Survey. The survey also found that the proportion of young adults ages 19–25 who were uninsured during the year fell from 48 percent to 41 between 2010 and 2012, reversing a nearly decade-long trend of rising uninsured rates in that age group.
Country: United States
Survey Organization: Princeton Survey Research Associates International
Field Dates: April 26, 2012–August 19, 2012
Sample: A nationally representative sample of 4,432 adults ages 19 and older living in the continental United States
Sample Size: The sample was drawn from a combination of landline and cell phone random-digit dial (RDD) samples. This report limits the analysis to respondents ages 19 to 64 (n=3,393). Statistical results are weighted to correct for the stratified sample design, the overlapping landline and cellular phone sample frames, and disproportionate non-response that might bias results. The resulting weighted sample is representative of the approximately 183.9 million U.S. adults ages 19 to 64.
The survey has an overall margin of sampling error of +/– 2.3 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. The landline portion of the survey achieved a 22 percent response rate and the cellular phone component achieved a 19 percent response rate.
Interview Method: The survey consisted of 25-minute telephone interviews in either English or Spanish
