Kansas Uninsured Rate Holds Steady, but Remains Higher Than the U.S. Rate

TOPEKA, KANSAS, September 2024 – Today, Sept. 12, the U.S. Census Bureau released its latest estimates of health insurance coverage in Kansas and across the United States. The 2023 American Community Survey 1-year estimates show Kansas’ uninsured rate was 8.4 percent, statistically unchanged from 2022 (8.6 percent). The Kansas uninsured rate of 8.4 percent represents 240,302 uninsured Kansans.

For the third year in a row, the Kansas uninsured rate was higher than the national uninsured rate.  The uninsured rate in the U.S. was 7.9 percent in 2023, compared to 8.0 percent in 2022.  The 2023 rate represents 26 million uninsured Americans.    

The latest data available reflects data collected in 2023, when enrollment on the federally facilitated health insurance marketplace increased and Medicaid unwinding began. The federal Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) 2023, passed in December 2022, decoupled federal funding for maintaining Medicaid eligibility from the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) gave states up to 12 months, starting April 1, 2023, to initiate reviews to redetermine eligibility for all Medicaid enrollees. Kansas concluded the unwinding process in May 2024. 

“While the effects of policies such as the unwinding of the continuous enrollment provisions in Medicaid and the continuation of enhanced subsidies for the federally facilitated marketplace may have combined with other trends in 2023 to keep the uninsured rate steady for Kansans, we expect that those policy effects may not be fully seen until at least next year’s release,” said Kari Bruffett, KHI president and CEO. “In addition, the data tell us that wide disparities in insurance coverage continued in 2023, and data that will be released this fall will allow us to describe more completely the experiences of Kansans across the state.” 

Additional key information from the 2023 ACS data release: 

• Race and Ethnicity Disparities – Among Hispanic Kansans of any race, the uninsured rate (20.1 percent) was more than three times higher than the rate for non-Hispanic White Kansans (5.9 percent), and higher than the rate for Hispanic Americans in the U.S. as a whole (16.6 percent). Among Black or African American Kansans, the uninsured rate (10.9 percent) was nearly two times higher than that of non-Hispanic White Kansans, and higher than the national rate (8.5 percent) for the Black or African American population. 

• Kansas Children – Kansas children are just as likely to be uninsured as their counterparts nationally (5.6 percent in Kansas compared to 5.4 percent for the U.S.). The uninsured rate for children in Kansas was lower than the U.S. rate in 2014 but has been statistically similar to the U.S. rate each year since. 

• Young Adults – The uninsured rate among individuals ages 19-25 remained similar in the U.S. (13.0 percent in 2022 and 13.1 percent in 2023), and in Kansas (15.4 percent in 2022 and 14.0 percent in 2023). 

• Working-Age Adults – The uninsured rate for adults ages 19-64 in Kansas (11.9 percent) was higher than in the U.S. (11.0 percent). The reduction in the uninsured rate among working-age adults in the U.S. was statistically significant between 2022-2023 (11.3 percent and 11.0 percent) but in Kansas was statistically similar (12.5 percent and 11.9 percent). 

• Kansas Living in Poverty – Kansans living below 138 percent of the federal poverty level (the threshold to qualify for Medicaid in expansion states) were more likely to be uninsured than those with similar circumstances in other states (16.1 percent in Kansas, compared to 13.3 percent in the U.S.). Nationwide, the uninsured rate among those living below 138 percent of the poverty level significantly decreased in 2023, but the Kansas decrease was not significant.  

Access the full American Community Survey 1-year Estimates data. Read the U.S. Census Bureau release for highlights. Get Kansas-specific data and charts. For additional information or to request an interview, please contact Theresa Freed, KHI director of Strategic Communication and Engagement, at 316-305-5290 or by email at tfreed@khi.org.

NOTE: The analysis uses data from the 2009-2023 American Community Survey 1-year Estimates released today. The U.S. Census Bureau also released data from the 2023 Current Population Survey. Estimates of insurance coverage this week may differ slightly between the ACS and CPS. The ACS estimates are better for analyzing state-level data and therefore were used in this analysis.