More than 8 per cent or 27.1 million Americans did not have health insurance during the first months of 2024, according to new survey findings published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These numbers are said to have broken a streak of record-low numbers since the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDC said.

These figures estimate the insurance coverage based on results from the agency's quarterly survey.

The CDC says there has also been a significant increase of 3.4 million more Americans who did not have health insurance during the first quarter of this year compared to the same time last year, when around 7.7 per cent of the citizens were uninsured.

CDC says even though the increase so far is not too significant, future rounds will give out a clear picture of the actual uninsured rates. The latest figures come out after a series of low insurance rates over the years that Biden administration officials had touted in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the proportion of uninsured people fell below 8 per cent in 2023 for four straight quarters.

According to experts and health officials, the low insurance rates are being credited in large part to many of the pandemic-era changes brought to health insurance. Before 2020, America’s uninsured rate had peaked at more than 10 per cent.

The United States reported over 1.2 million deaths and confirmed and presumptive positive cases to over 104 million ever since the pandemic began in December 2019.

According to experts, one of the biggest factors for a pause in insurance during COVID-19 has been the states reverifying the eligibility of residents covered by Medicaid, effectively suspending many facilities that previously made the enrollees eligible for state health insurance rolls. Officials say the entire process of resuming eligibility checks after the pandemic – which is a big bureaucratic undertaking dubbed Medicaid unwinding - — is slated to finish across all the states by this month end.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in June that the rates of Americans covered by health insurance were likely to go back to the pre-pandemic levels by 2026, after declines in Medicaid enrollment and the end of temporary subsidies.

According to the recent numbers released by the Congressional Budget Office, it is estimated that the US uninsured rate will significantly worsen over the coming years. Apart from the end of pandemic-era insurance policies, a surge in immigration is another factor that may drive up uninsured rates.

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