Health Insurance Coverage and Income Inequality in the United States: Findings from the American Community Survey, 2010 to 2023

The findings underscore the structural link between economic conditions and health insurance coverage. They suggest the need for targeted policies that could raise household income, such as job creation and wage growth to ensure equitable health insurance coverage and ultimately improve the health of Americans. Current policies appear to heavily burden the Federal government with subsidies to programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and Veterans Affairs programs. Future research could study the specific responses of each of these programs to income inequality and real income variations. This finer analysis could better guide the distribution of government funds and policies. A further line of inquiry could consider a regional analysis to address geographical dimensions and the issue of ecological fallacy, although this is beyond the scope of this note.