Access
Can you get it in time?
Coverage has widened to a record 7.6% uninsured, but insurance is not access: the country faces a projected shortfall of up to 86,000 physicians, new-patient waits average 31 days, more than a third of counties are maternity care deserts, and only 18% of in-network mental-health listings actually yield an appointment.
US uninsured rate, 2019 to 2023
National Health Interview Survey estimates. All-ages and working-age adults shown separately.
Read it this way Both lines fall every year with no reversal, so the record-low 7.6% uninsured rate is a sustained multi-year trend, not a one-year blip. The adult line sits consistently above the all-ages line because children have separate coverage pathways, so this chart alone can't tell you which policy drove the decline.
⊞ data table⬇ CSV
| Year | All ages (%) | Adults 18 to 64 (%) |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 10.3 | 14.7 |
| 2020 | 9.7 | 13.9 |
| 2021 | 9.2 | 13.5 |
| 2022 | 8.4 | 12.2 |
| 2023 | 7.6 | 10.9 |
NCHS, Health Insurance Coverage: Early Release from the National Health Interview Survey, 2023 · 2023 · source
Legislation in play that touches access
- Healthy Start Reauthorization Act of 2026
- Maternal Health for Veterans Act
- A resolution supporting the designation of the week of April 11 through April 17, 2025…
Counts from Congress.gov + state-legislation trackers, keyword-mapped to this Iron Triangle force. As of 2026-06-18. See the methodology note on the legislation dashboard.
Sources & methodology
- NCHS, Health Insurance Coverage: Early Release from the National Health Interview Survey, 2023
- KFF State Health Facts, Health Insurance Coverage of the Total Population
- KFF, As Medicaid Unwinding Concludes, 25 Million Lost Coverage
- MACPAC, Physician Acceptance of New Medicaid Patients (NEHRS) and Medicaid-to-Medicare Fee Index
- Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, child uninsurance analysis of Census ACS
- AAMC, The Complexities of Physician Supply and Demand: Projections From 2021 to 2036
- HRSA Bureau of Health Workforce, Designated HPSA Quarterly Summary, Q3 FY2026
- America's Health Rankings, Primary Care Providers (CMS NPPES)
- American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Enrollment and Graduations and Faculty Salary data
- KFF State Health Facts, Mental Health Care HPSAs (HRSA source data)
- AMN Healthcare (Merritt Hawkins), 2025 Survey of Physician Appointment Wait Times
- Merritt Hawkins / AMN Healthcare, 2022 Survey of Physician Appointment Wait Times
- SAMHSA, Results from the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health
- PLOS Medicine, Inpatient psychiatric bed capacity within CMS-certified US hospitals, 2011 to 2023
- March of Dimes, Nowhere to Go: Maternity Care Deserts Across the US, 2024
- March of Dimes, Nowhere to Go: Maternity Care Deserts Across the US, 2022
- Chartis Center for Rural Health, 2026 Rural Health State of the State
- UNC Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, Rural Hospital Closures
- US Senate Committee on Finance, Ghost Network Secret Shopper Study Report
- KFF, Network Adequacy Standards and Enforcement
- CMS, Network Adequacy QHP Certification (2025 Payment Notice)
- NAIC, Health Benefit Plan Network Access and Adequacy Model Act (#74)
- DOL, HHS, and Treasury, MHPAEA Comparative Analysis Reports to Congress (2022 and 2023)
- Milliman, Addiction and Mental Health vs Physical Health: Widening Disparities in Network Use
- CMS Medicare patient-flow (HSA) + Care Compare + ACS/AHRF ecosystem pipelines
- CMS Care Compare / Provider of Services (hospital identity, CAH, sole-community flags)
- Off Label closure model (survival_v3), see docs/CLOSURE_MODEL_V3.md
- CMS Provider Data Catalog · Hospital Care Compare
Per-chart citation straps carry the in-context detail; this is the full bibliography.