Coverage Gaps
As of 2010, about 1.3 million of the 12.5 million nonelderly veterans in the United States did not have health insurance coverage or access to Veterans Affairs (VA) health care, according to a 2012 report by the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that used 2010 data from the Census Bureau and the 2009 and 2010 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS). The report also found that:
- When family members of veterans are included, the uninsured total rises to 2.3 million.
- An additional 900,000 veterans use VA health care but have no other coverage.
- Uninsured veterans are more likely to be male (90.4%), non-Hispanic white (70.4%), unmarried (58.2%) and earned a high school degree (40.7%).
- More than 40% are younger than 45.
The U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, enacted in 2010, has provisions intended to make it easier for uninsured veterans to obtain coverage. Under the act, veterans with incomes at or below 138% of the Federal Poverty Line ($30,429 for a family of four in 2010) would qualify for coverage as of January 2014; this group constitutes nearly 50% of veterans who are currently uninsured. Another 40.1% of veterans and 49% of their families have incomes that qualify for new subsidies through health insurance exchanges with the PPACA.
Read more about this topic: Military Health System
Famous quotes containing the word gaps:
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—William James (1842–1910)