Uninsurance Rate Falls As Millions Sign Up For Obamacare, Survey Finds
The U.S. uninsurance rate has hit another five-year low as Americans continue enrolling in health coverage during Obamacare’s first open enrollment period, according to a new Gallup survey. All told, the uninsurance rate in the first three months of 2014 stood at 15.9 percent, compared to 17.1 percent in the last quarter of 2013 — and the largest drops in uninsurance occurred among African Americans and lower-income people, who are among the most likely to benefit from the ACA’s financial assistance.
“The uninsured rate for almost every major demographic group has dropped in 2014 so far,” wrote the Gallup researchers. “The percentage of uninsured Americans with an annual household income of less than $36,000 has dropped the most — by 2.8 percentage points — to 27.9% since the fourth quarter of 2013, while the percentage of uninsured blacks has fallen 2.6 points to 18.3%. Hispanics remain the subgroup most likely to lack health insurance, with an uninsured rate of 37.9%.”
Last month, Gallup reported that the uninsurance rate had fallen to 16 percent as the Obama administration announced that 3.3 million people had signed up for private insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s state and federal marketplaces.
That number has now surpassed four million, according to administration officials. The White House is expected to release detailed figures about the number of enrollments between October and February next week.
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http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/03/10/3381991/uninsurance-hits-another-five-year-low/