More than half of young adults in the U.S. lacked health insurance coverage for at least one month between 2002 and 2003, according to the report released last week by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, AHRQ based report on the annual Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which collected the information form a sample of households health care use, cost, access, and quality, as well as the health status of individuals.

“During 2002 to 2003, young adults aged between, 18 to 29 were most likely to be with health insurance coverage for at least one month” report states. The report also found that 24.2% of low-income respondents younger that 60 lacked health insurance for all the period between 2000 and 2003. In addition, about half of Latino respondents lacked health insurance for at least one month between 2002 and 2003, and 16% lacked coverage for all of the period between 2000 and 2003, the report finds. More than 6% of all respondents younger than age 65 lacked health insurance for all of the period between 2000 and 2003, according to the report. The report finds that the healthiest respondents were the most likely to have health insurance but does not "say whether their health was a cause or an effect of having insurance,"