Facts to Consider

Among workers earning less than $7.00 per hour, 36.2% are uninsured throughout the year, compared with 3.3% of workers earning more than $25 per hour.

ERIU has compiled statistics about the uninsured across many dimensions: age, race, and ethnicity, earnings, and income. The statistic about the uninsured and wage levels comes from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey for 2003, found in this table.

The MEPS is not the only source of data on the income of the uninsured. ERIU's "fast facts" are unique in providing the same type of fact from more than one survey source, and for several timeframes (point in time, all year, ever in the year). We also provide comparisons between results using the Current Population Survey (CPS) and two other surveys: CPS vs SIPP (Survey of Income and Program Participation) and CPS vs MEPS (Medical Expenditure Panel Survey).

For more on ERIU's "fast facts": ERIU Fast Facts