Health
Uninsured rate by president
Share of the civilian population with no health insurance at the time of the survey (ACS). Starts in 2008; there is no 2020 value because the pandemic disrupted that year's survey. The ACA's main coverage provisions began in 2014.
8.2% latest, 2024
Source: Census Bureau (American Community Survey), via ACS health insurance tables. Annual data, fetched Oct 19, 2026.
Since 2008, the uninsured rate ranged from 7.9% in 2023 under Joe Biden to 15.5% in 2010 under Barack Obama. Of the 3 completed terms with data, the uninsured rate rose fastest under Donald Trump (1st term), at +0.20 pts/yr against −1.55 pts/yr in the four years before, and fell fastest under Barack Obama, at −0.75 pts/yr.
By presidential term
Uninsured rate, term by term: every term lined up from inauguration on one chart.
Value at the last full period before inauguration and at the end of the term, with the yearly rate of change. The second column is the rate of change over the four years before the term: the trend they inherited. Remember the lag: a term's first year mostly reflects the previous one's policies.
| President | During term | 4 years before |
|---|---|---|
| Donald Trump (2nd term) 2025–now | no data | no data |
| Joe Biden 2021–2025 | 9.2% → 8.2% −0.20 pts/yr | +0.20 pts/yr |
| Donald Trump (1st term) 2017–2021 | 8.6% → 9.2% +0.20 pts/yr | −1.55 pts/yr |
| Barack Obama 2009–2017 | 14.6% → 8.6% −0.75 pts/yr | — |
| George W. Bush 2001–2009 | no data | no data |
| Bill Clinton 1993–2001 | no data | no data |
| George H. W. Bush 1989–1993 | no data | no data |
| Ronald Reagan 1981–1989 | no data | no data |
| Jimmy Carter 1977–1981 | no data | no data |
More health indicators
Events that bear on this indicator
- Jul 4, 2025 LawOne Big Beautiful Bill Act. Makes the 2017 individual tax cuts permanent, adds new deductions and cuts Medicaid and SNAP spending.
- Mar 11, 2021 LawAmerican Rescue Plan. About $1.9 trillion in relief, including a temporarily expanded child tax credit and larger ACA premium subsidies.
- Dec 22, 2017 LawTax Cuts and Jobs Act. Corporate rate cut from 35% to 21%, temporary individual rate cuts, and the ACA's individual-mandate penalty set to zero from 2019.
- Jan 1, 2014 LawACA coverage expansion begins. Insurance marketplaces, subsidies and (in participating states) expanded Medicaid take effect.
- Mar 23, 2010 LawAffordable Care Act signed. Medicaid expansion, subsidized insurance marketplaces and an individual mandate; main coverage provisions start in 2014.