Survey: Gaps in health insurance coverage, knowledge persist

A Commonwealth Fund survey found that many U.S. adults ages didn't have health insurance over the course of a year.  

Los Angeles Times: Survey Shows Holes In Health Insurance Coverage
With the future of the healthcare law emerging as a major campaign issue this fall, a new survey has found that more than a quarter of adults ages 19 to 64 in the United States lacked health insurance for at least some time [within the past year]. … And the vast majority of those people – nearly 70 percent – had been without coverage for more than a year, according to the study by the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund, a leading authority on health policy (Levey, 4/19).

Modern Healthcare: Many Experience Gaps In Health Coverage, Report Finds
Adults with intermittent insurance were less likely to have a regular doctor ... The report, based on a nationally representative survey for the Commonwealth Fund, found employer health benefits had been the source of coverage for 41% of those who went without insurance at some point during the period. Another 27% never had insurance, according to the report. The online survey was conducted last year between June 24 and July 5 (Evans, 4/19).

National Journal: Survey Finds Gaps In Health Insurance
And most of those who tried to buy insurance on their own said it was difficult, said the group, which advocates for single-payer national health insurance and does research to back it up. But the 2010 health reform law is starting to help, most notably by allowing young adults to stay on their parents' health insurance plans until age 26, the survey found. The non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation says 18.5 percent of non-elderly Americans do not have any health insurance. The health reform law aims to close this gap (Fox, 4/19).

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: Survey: Key Groups Unaware Of Health Law Benefits
[O]utreach efforts for two popular provisions are missing key parts of their target audience. ... For example, 40 percent of respondents age 19 to 29 didn't know about the benefit that permits those under 26 to obtain coverage from their parents' plan. When asked about the high-risk pools, 45 percent of people in fair or poor health and 65 percent of people who were uninsured didn't know about that coverage option (Torres, 4/19).