Nearly 11 million Americans had individual health insurance policies, but some for only a short time

MANAGED CARE February 2009. ©MediMedia USA

About 10.9 million Americans under age 65 purchased individual health insurance policies at some point in 2006, but only 7 million were covered by these policies for the twelve months afterwards, according to findings from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The 3.9 million who had individual policies for part of the year were covered for about six months, on average.

Age distribution of people with full-year and part-year insurance coverage

Source of both charts: Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends. AHRQ. Household component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, 2006.