Affordability Is the Issue Now, But Look for the Uninsured to Make a Comeback

(Author: Drew Altman for The Kaiser Family Foundation Published: Apr 10, 2026)

The uninsured is not the most politically salient problem in health care now—that’s affordability—nor is it the non-problem some say it is. But it’s coming back. And the problem of the chronically ill uninsured is glaring.

With 92% of the population covered by some kind of health insurance, the problem driving health to the forefront in polls now is no longer the uninsured—as it was back in 2010 when the Affordable Care Act passed and for years before that—it’s the cost concerns of the vast majority of the population people WITH insurance. That’s one reason why affordability is displacing universal coverage as a rallying cry in health care. Another is the heightened concern the public has about affordability generally—for food, housing, utilities, gas, and for health care. But the uninsured haven’t disappeared and one large group, the chronically ill uninsured, is particularly hard hit in our health system. Continue reading here…

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