About 8% of Americans lacked health insurance in 2025, with the national uninsured rate holding roughly flat compared to the prior year, according to new data released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC's National Health Interview Survey results offer the first complete picture of coverage for all of 2025 — the opening year of President Donald Trump's second term. The rate remains well below the all-time high of more than 18% recorded in 2010 and has stayed near the record low set in 2023, when it dipped below 9%.
Even with the overall rate holding flat, the total count of uninsured Americans climbed by approximately 800,000, a figure that includes around 300,000 children, according to The Associated Press. Analysts attribute much of that rise to an expanding U.S. population.
The steady rate may not hold. Sweeping Medicaid overhauls enacted last year carry a steep projected cost: the Congressional Budget Office estimates they could add 10 million people to the uninsured rolls over a ten-year period, according to The Associated Press. Separately, marketplace enrollment faces a significant headwind from the lapse of Affordable Care Act premium subsidies; health research nonprofit KFF forecasts that participation in those plans will drop by close to five million people between 2025 and 2026, according to The Associated Press.
