2025 U.S. uninsured rate holds steady at 7.9% despite GOP reform worries

The U.S. Census Bureau released figures showing that 26.7 million Americans, or about 7.9 % of the population, lacked health insurance in 2025, a level that remained essentially unchanged despite Democratic concerns over Republican-led reforms. The data do not yet capture the impact of Medicaid and Marketplace changes introduced by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed in July 2025 and later rebranded as the Working Families Tax Cut.

Employer-based coverage continues to dominate, Medicare enrollment grew by 0.6 percentage points to roughly 20 %, and Medicaid enrollment fell by 0.5 percentage points. Republicans plan to use the statistics before the 2026 midterms to argue the legislation has not harmed coverage, whereas Democrats point out that work-requirement provisions for able-bodied Medicaid recipients will only take effect in 2027 and could remove millions from the program. The uninsured rate, which declined from 16 % in 2010 to 8.2 % in 2024, is projected to rise again, highlighting the political salience of health-care affordability for voters.