More Information Regarding the Uninsured in Michigan

By Education

• In general, the higher the educational attainment of the head of household, the lower the rate of uninsurance. Families headed by an individual with less than a bachelor's degree have an uninsured rate of 14.9 percent; while those headed by a person with at least a bachelor's degree have an uninsured rate of 5.1 percent.
• Households headed by a person with less than a bachelor's degree represent 87.6 percent of uninsured households while families headed by a person with a bachelor's degree or higher represent 12.4 percent.

By Family Type

• More than one in five households headed by a single adult are uninsured which is more than two and a half times that for families headed by a married couple which have an uninsured rate of 7.9 percent.
• Families with children represent 39.5 percent of the uninsured, while households without children represent 60.5 percent.
• More than half (56.6 percent) of the uninsured live in families headed by a single individual, while the remaining 43.4 percent live in households headed by a married couple.

By Location

• Urban areas of the state have a somewhat higher rate of uninsurance of 12.2 percent as opposed to rural rates of 11.0 percent.
• A full 86 percent of the uninsured live in urban areas of the state while only 14 percent live in rural areas.

By Work Status

• Almost one in five (19.1 percent) individuals in families with a part-time worker are uninsured, which is more than double that for families with a full-time worker whose rate is 8.9 percent.
• Individuals in households with a full-time worker represent the majority (52.9 percent) of the uninsured while those in households with part-time and seasonal workers represent 26 percent. Members of households headed by a non-worker represent 21.2 percent of the uninsured.

By Private Sector Firm Size

• Individuals in families headed by an employee at a private sector firm with less than 100 workers are almost twice as likely to be uninsured, with a rate of 14.6 percent, than those headed by a worker at a firm with 100 or more employees, whose rate of uninsurance is 7.5 percent.
• More than half (52.3 percent) of the uninsured live with a household headed by a worker at a private firm with less than 100 employees; almost one-third (30.4 percent) live with a head of household working in a firm with more than 1,000 employees.

By Industry

• Families headed by a person who is self-employed are three times more likely to be uninsured, with a rate of 21.8 percent, than individuals in families headed by a worker in the public sector who have an uninsured rate of 6.3 percent; one in ten individuals in families headed by a worker in the private sector is uninsured.
• Individuals in working families whose head of household is employed in the private sector represent 57.2 percent of the uninsured, those headed by a person who is self-employed represent 16 percent, those headed by a public sector employee comprise 5.7 percent of the uninsured and those headed by a non-worker constitute 21.2 percent of the uninsured.

Note: Comparisons in text are based on the current three-year average (2004-2006) unless otherwise noted. Source: CPS Data Files (2004-2006), Employee Benefit Research Institute.