Health insurance

Health insurance in Minnesota:

Health insurance affects health status

Health insurance helps ensure access to health care. People without health insurance are less likely to seek medical care for routine conditions or injuries or receive preventative care. Most adults 65 and older are covered by Medicare or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). In Minnesota, typically less than 1% of this age group lacks health insurance. For this reason, the indicators on this page explore health insurance coverage among Minnesotans under 65 years of age. 

Inequities in health insurance continue in Minnesota

The following groups of Minnesotans are less likely to have health insurance in recent years:

  • those with lower incomes
  • American Indians
  • people of Hispanic ethnicity

Disparities in health insurance coverage affect the health status of these groups. More uninsured people report poor health and have fewer healthy days than the overall population of Minnesota.

Health insurance in Minnesota

Roll over bars for more information.

 
 
For people aged 0-64. Source: Minnesota Health Access Survey. Group insurance is provided by employers to employees and their spouses and dependents. Non-group insurance (previously called “individual” insurance) is self-purchased and not obtained through an employer. In 2019, the Minnesota Health Access Survey moved from an exclusively random digit dial (RDD) frame to a dual RDD and address-based sample (ABS) frame and web-based survey, and 2021 was exclusively an ABS sample frame. Due to these changes, results from 2019 and 2021 may not be directly comparable to previous years. See About the data for more information.

The proportion of people without health insurance in Minnesota significantly increased from 2001 to 2011 and then decreased between 2011 and 2015. Increases in health insurance coverage in 2015 were driven by public program expansions along with small increases in both group and non-group insurance coverage.

  • Eligibility expansions under the Affordable Care Act in 2014 likely contributed to the increase in public insurance coverage, especially among children and low income adults. In Minnesota, the two state-based public health insurance programs are Medical Assistance (MA) and MinnesotaCare, in addition to federal public programs like Medicare.
  • The proportion of Minnesotans obtaining non-group insurance (self-purchased insurance) increased slightly, likely due to the Affordable Care Act provisions that took effect in 2014.

In 2017, the share of Minnesotans that lacked health insurance coverage increased before decreasing again in recent years. Around 5% of Minnesotans under the age of 65 lacked health insurance coverage in 2021. 

Minnesotans without health insurance, by region

Roll over map for more information.

Region 2021 2019 2017 2015 2013
Minnesota 4.7% 5.4% 7.3% 4.9% 9.4%
Central 6.0% 6.2% 7.8% 6.6% 8.8%
Metropolitan Area excluding Minneapolis-St. Paul 3.2% 4.6% 6.4% 4.6% 7.3%
Minneapolis-St. Paul 7.1% 5.6% 9.7% 5.7% 13.7%
Northeast 3.0% 5.0% 6.4% 3.6% 9.9%
Northwest 11.1% 9.6% 12.9% 4.2% 11.4%
South Central 4.0% 6.0% 4.7% 5.3% 13.6%
Southeast 3.9% 5.1% 3.4% 2.9% 6.8%
Southwest 6.6% 7.3% 10.9% 6.7% 12.9%
West Central 2.6% 5.2% 8.7% 2.1% 4.0%
These maps are available for download. Percentages are for people aged 0-64 years in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019. Source: Minnesota Health Access Survey. For a map of Minnesota counties within each region, see: SCHSAC Regions in Minnesota. In 2019, the Minnesota Health Access Survey moved from an exclusively random digit dial (RDD) frame to a dual RDD and address-based sample (ABS) frame and web-based survey, and 2021 was exclusively an ABS sample frame. Due to these changes, results from 2019 and 2021 may not be directly comparable to previous years. See About the data for more information.

Typically, people living in Minneapolis or St. Paul are less likely to have health insurance compared to Greater Minnesota while people living in the surrounding 7-county Twin Cities Metro were more likely to have health insurance than those in the cities of Minneapolis or St. Paul.

In 2021, people were more likely to have health insurance if they lived either in the West Central region of the state or in the 7-county Twin Cities Metro outside of the cities of Minneapolis or St. Paul. 

For county-level data on health insurance coverage, visit the Population Characteristics Data Query.

Minnesotans without health insurance, by race or ethnicity

Roll over bars for more information.

 
 
Data are for people aged 0-64 in 2021. Source: Minnesota Health Access Survey. In 2019, the Minnesota Health Access Survey moved from an exclusively random digit dial (RDD) frame to a dual RDD and address-based sample (ABS) frame and web-based survey, and 2021 was exclusively an ABS sample frame. Due to these changes, results from 2019 and 2021 may not be directly comparable to previous years. See About the data for more information.

Minnesotans that identified as Hispanic were the most likely to lack health insurance in 2021. The other categories were not significantly different from each other.

Minnesotans without health insurance, by age

Roll over bars for more information.

 
 
Data are for people of all ages in 2021. Source: Minnesota Health Access Survey. In 2019, the Minnesota Health Access Survey moved from an exclusively random digit dial (RDD) frame to a dual RDD and address-based sample (ABS) frame and web-based survey, and 2021 was exclusively an ABS sample frame. Due to these changes, results from 2019 and 2021 may not be directly comparable to previous years. See About the data for more information.

Historically, young Minnesotans between 26-34 years are significantly more likely to be uninsured than the statewide average and this pattern has been consistent over time in the state. In 2021, young adults were not significantly less likely to have health insurance and were statistically similar to the statewide average. 

The Affordable Care Act, signed into law in March 2010, requires health plans and insurers to make coverage available to dependents until the age of 26, with some exceptions. Expansions to the Affordable Care Act in 2014 improved public program coverage. Accordingly, the proportion of adults aged 18-25 without health insurance has declined since 2009, especially among men. This is typically an age group with one of the highest proportions of people without insurance.

In 2021, about 7% of men aged 26-34 and about 4% of women aged 26-34 still lacked health insurance coverage.

Minnesotans without health insurance, by sex

Roll over points for more information.

 
 
Data are for males and females 0-64 and children under 18 years. Source: Minnesota Health Access Survey. In 2019, the Minnesota Health Access Survey moved from an exclusively random digit dial (RDD) frame to a dual RDD and address-based sample (ABS) frame and web-based survey, and 2021 was exclusively an ABS sample frame. Due to these changes, results from 2019 and 2021 may not be directly comparable to previous years. See About the data for more information.

Over time, the proportion of uninsured males increased from 2001 to 2009, began to decrease in 2011, and then dropped dramatically in 2015. However, this indicator increased again in 2017 and, while it decreased in recent years, remains higher than 2015 levels. Females tend to have better health insurance coverage than males.

Children generally have better health insurance coverage than the statewide average in Minnesota; about 3% of children (<18 years) lacked health insurance in 2021, which has been stable since 2015.

To see data & measures for other Population Characteristics, see:

 

Related Links

Last updated October 13, 2022