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Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Yes.

The rate of Americans without health insurance hit record lows in 2022 and 2023 by different measures.

The number of nonelderly uninsured individuals (25.6 million) and their uninsured rate (9.6%) reached record lows in 2022, the health policy organization KFF reported in December 2023.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department reported that the uninsured rate for all U.S. residents reached an all-time low of 7.2% in the second quarter of 2023. The figure increased to 8.2% in the first quarter of 2024.

The historic lows were due to federal coverage policies during the COVID-19 pandemic and states expanding Medicaid eligibility, the research group Commonwealth Fund reported.

The requirement that states keep people on Medicaid during the public health emergency ended in April 2023. Some 360,000 Wisconsin residents lost coverage.

President Joe Biden claimed Aug. 19, 2024, at the Democratic National Convention that more Americans than ever have health insurance.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

KFF: Key Facts about the Uninsured Population

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: National Uninsured Rate Reaches an All-Time Low in Early 2023 After the Close of the ACA Open Enrollment Period

Centers for Disease Control: Health Insurance Coverage: Early Release of Quarterly Estimates From the National Health Interview Survey, January 2023–March 2024

Commonwealth Fund: 2023 Scorecard on State Health System Performance

Wisconsin Watch: Worried about losing Medicaid access in Wisconsin? What to know

USA TODAY: Full speech: Joe Biden speaks at 2024 DNC | USA TODAY

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Tom Kertscher joined Wisconsin Watch as a full-time reporter in October 2024. He started as a fact checker in January 2023 and contributes to our collaboration with the The Gigafact Project to fight misinformation online. Kertscher is a former longtime newspaper reporter, including at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He is a contributing writer for Milwaukee Magazine and sports freelancer for The Associated Press.