Health Insurance Coverage — Palm Bay, Florida

About one in eight Palm Bay residents has no health insurance: 16,482 people, or 12.8 percent of the civilian noninstitutionalized population, in the ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates.

The uninsured counts come from Census Bureau table S2701 for Palm Bay city, the same table for Brevard County and the Florida table. Palm Bay's 12.8 percent uninsured rate is 3 points above the Brevard County rate of 9.8 percent and above the statewide 11.5 percent. Palm Bay holds about 26.8 percent of the county's uninsured residents (16,482 of 61,493) while it holds 20.6 percent of the county population base (129,016 of 625,754).

The private and public rows in the table add to more than 100 percent because many Palm Bay residents carry more than one kind of coverage. The Palm Bay public coverage share of 42.7 percent is higher than the county and state shares, while the private share of 59.2 percent is lower than both, a mix covered in detail further down this page.

Working-age adults are the Palm Bay residents most often without coverage, led by ages 26 to 34 at 27.1 percent uninsured, while only 1.0 percent of Palm Bay residents 65 and older lack insurance (ACS 2020-2024).

The 19 to 64 age band accounts for most of the uninsured in Palm Bay: 13,525 of the 16,482, against 2,711 children under 19 (ACS S2701, Palm Bay). The Palm Bay rate for ages 26 to 34 is 5.5 to 5.9 points above the Brevard County and Florida rates for the same group. Coverage jumps at 65, when the Palm Bay uninsured rate falls from 11.9 percent among residents 55 to 64 to 1.4 percent among those 65 to 74.

Palm Bay children are covered at a lower rate than children countywide. 8.3 percent of Palm Bay children under 6 and 9.2 percent of those aged 6 to 18 are uninsured, against 7.6 and 7.3 percent across Brevard County. Men in Palm Bay go without coverage more often than women, at 14.5 percent against 11.2 percent.

Unemployed Palm Bay adults are the group most likely to lack coverage, at 42.9 percent uninsured, followed by non-citizens at 33.3 percent and adults who worked less than full-time, year round at 26.9 percent (ACS 2020-2024).

A job does not guarantee coverage in Palm Bay. 16.7 percent of employed Palm Bay residents aged 19 to 64 are uninsured, and among those who worked less than full-time or less than year round the rate rises to 26.9 percent, against 15.0 percent for full-time, year-round workers (ACS S2701, Palm Bay). Unemployed Palm Bay adults are uninsured at 42.9 percent, well above the county's 33.6 percent (ACS S2701, Brevard County).

Income in Palm Bay does not track coverage in a straight line. Palm Bay residents in households earning $50,000 to $74,999 have the highest uninsured rate of any income band in the city, 16.9 percent, above the 13.6 percent for residents of Palm Bay households under $25,000 and the 9.8 percent for residents of households at $100,000 and over. By poverty ratio, 17.1 percent of Palm Bay residents below 138 percent of the poverty threshold are uninsured, 14.9 percent of those between 138 and 399 percent, and 6.4 percent of those at 400 percent or more.

Citizenship and schooling also separate Palm Bay residents. Native-born residents are uninsured at 12.4 percent and naturalized citizens at 7.9 percent, while non-citizens reach 33.3 percent. Among Palm Bay adults 26 and over, 21.4 percent without a high school diploma lack coverage against 7.4 percent with a bachelor's degree. Palm Bay residents with a disability are uninsured at only 5.7 percent, against 14.1 percent of residents without one.

Employer plans are the most common coverage in Palm Bay, held by 43.8 percent of residents, while Medicaid or other means-tested public coverage reaches 23.7 percent, well above the Brevard County share of 15.2 percent (ACS 2020-2024).

Private coverage figures come from table S2703 for Palm Bay and Brevard County, and public coverage figures from table S2704 for Palm Bay and Brevard County; the Florida column uses the state S2703 and state S2704 tables. Medicaid plays a larger role in Palm Bay than in the county: 30,546 Palm Bay residents have Medicaid or another means-tested plan, and among Palm Bay residents under 19 that share is 49.8 percent, against 33.9 percent countywide.

Medicare covers a smaller share of Palm Bay than of Brevard County, 21.3 percent against 26.2 percent. Palm Bay is younger than the county: 24,337 of its 129,016 residents in the coverage table are 65 or older (18.9 percent), against 152,338 of 625,754 in Brevard County (24.3 percent). Among Palm Bay residents 65 and older, 95.8 percent have Medicare. Military-linked coverage is part of the Palm Bay picture too: 7,683 residents carry Tricare or military insurance and 4,944 use VA health care, shares of 6.0 and 3.8 percent that trail the Brevard County figures of 8.1 and 5.3 percent but run above the Florida figures of 3.6 and 2.9 percent.

Palm Bay families can enroll children in Florida KidCare at any time of year, and adults buying their own plan use the HealthCare.gov Marketplace, whose Open Enrollment runs from November 1 to January 15.

Florida KidCare offers income-based health and dental insurance for children, with costs set by a child's age, household size and adjusted gross annual income. Many families pay $15 or $20 a month to cover all qualifying children, and some qualify for subsidized coverage through the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Applications are taken online through the Florida KidCare Parent Portal or by calling 1-888-540-5437 for a paper form, and enrollment is open year-round. That matters for the 2,711 Palm Bay residents under 19 counted as uninsured in the ACS 2020-2024 estimates.

For Palm Bay adults, the HealthCare.gov dates and deadlines page sets the Marketplace calendar. Open Enrollment for 2027 coverage starts November 1; plans chosen by December 15 start January 1, and Open Enrollment ends January 15, with coverage starting February 1 for plans chosen December 16 through January 15. Outside that window, a Palm Bay resident can enroll only through a Special Enrollment Period after a life event such as moving, losing other coverage, getting married or having a baby, or through Medicaid or CHIP, which take applications all year. Last verified: October 12, 2026, on HealthCare.gov and the Florida KidCare website.

Household type also shapes coverage in Palm Bay. Residents of married-couple families are uninsured at 9.5 percent, against 18.9 percent for residents of other family households and 14.7 percent for people living alone or with nonrelatives, according to the same ACS 2020-2024 table. The figures on this page are five-year averages covering 2020 through 2024 and carry margins of error, which the Census Bureau publishes alongside each Palm Bay estimate.