The share of Americans with no health insurance, a rough measure of how many people can see a doctor without risking financial ruin. It is an outcome shaped by the design of the Affordable Care Act, states' Medicaid choices, the economy, and Congress, not by any president alone. It fell by nearly half over a decade, reached its lowest level ever recorded under Biden, and, with a key subsidy set to lapse, is projected to climb again.
Uninsured share of the U.S. population in the last full year of each term. Lower is better.
Clinton
~14.9%
2000. The CDC series begins in 1997, at 15.4%
Bush
~14.7%
2008. Stayed between about 14% and 15% all term; the series peaked later, at 16.0% in 2010, before the ACA took effect
Obama
~9.0%
2016. The single largest coverage gain on record, as the ACA took effect in 2014
Trump I
~9.7%
2020. Ticked up mid-term (9.4% in 2018, then 10.3% in 2019 on a redesigned survey) and eased to 9.7% in 2020 under pandemic Medicaid rules
Biden
~8.2%
2024. Fell to a record annual low of 7.6% in 2023 (enhanced ACA subsidies + pandemic Medicaid), with a single quarter at 7.2%, then rose to 8.2% as Medicaid enrollment was unwound
Trump II
~8.3%*
2025. Statistically unchanged from 2024; but the enhanced subsidies expired at the end of 2025, and analysts project several million more uninsured in 2026 (projected, not yet measured)
This is an outcome, and it lags. The uninsured rate reflects the ACA's design, individual states' decisions on Medicaid expansion, the strength of the job market, and above all acts of Congress; the enhanced subsidies that drove the record low were passed by Congress, not created by executive order. Survey figures publish roughly nine months after the fact, so the effect of the subsidies expiring on December 31, 2025 is a 2026 story that will not appear in the data until 2027; the ~8.3% shown for 2025 is measured, but the projected jump (the Congressional Budget Office and KFF estimate roughly 4 to 5 million more people uninsured) is an estimate, shown in a softer bar. Different official surveys put the rate a point or so apart; this uses the CDC's annual series. Trump II is a partial term.