More Americans got health insurance during the pandemic, but not in Kansas

WICHITA, Kansas — Federal pandemic programs that buoyed health insurance rates nationwide in 2021 didn't ultimately lead to an increase in coverage in Kansas — meaning that, for the first time in decades, Kansans are significantly less likely to have health insurance than the U.S. population as a whole. As millions of Americans lost jobs and with it their employer-based health insurance, the federal government enacted broad relief measures to help people access coverage. Those programs contributed to a marked drop in the rate of uninsured Americans in 2021 to match a prior record low of 8.6%, according to new data released this week by the Census Bureau. But the rate of uninsured Kansans remained steady between 2019 and 2021 at 9.2%.

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