Changes in Rural Health Insurance Coverage, 2020-2023

Research center:

RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
Phone: 319.384.3832

Lead researcher:

Timothy D. McBride, MS, PhD, 314.935.4356, tmcbride@wustl.edu

Research staff:

Abigail Barker, PhD

Project funded:

September 2024

Project completed:

September 2025

Topics:

Health reform, Healthcare financing, Medicaid and CHIP, Medicare, Medicare Advantage (MA), Private health insurance, Rural statistics and demographics, Uninsured and underinsured

This project used secondary data sources to characterize changes in health insurance coverage during the public health emergency (2020-2023) for rural and urban people according to demographic, employment, and geographic characteristics, and to describe how changes in federal policies impacted coverage. Researchers also assessed the potential impact of maintaining more robust marketplace subsidies on rural and urban coverage rates once the “unwinding” of continuous Medicaid enrollment is complete.

Publications

Health Insurance Coverage in Rural and Urban Areas in the U.S., 2023
Policy Brief
RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
Date: 09/2025
This brief outlines the health insurance status of people in the United States, by residence (rural and urban) in 2023, with additional breakdowns by age groups.