Washington state slashes uninsured number

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Gallup has ranked Washington as No. 4 in the nation for the largest reduction in the rate of uninsured adults.

Washington’s uninsured rate has decreased by 6.1 percent since the major provisions of the Affordable Care Act took effect last year.

The 10 states with the largest drops in the uninsured rate all expanded Medicaid and created their own insurance exchange or created a state-federal partnership. According to the report, the uninsured rate dropped 4 percent in the 21 states that implemented both measures, as opposed to a 2.2 percent drop in the 29 states have not.

According to the report, Washington’s uninsured rate has dropped to 10.7 percent, from 16.8 percent before the open enrollment period began in 2013 for insurance through the state exchange.

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/morning_call/2014/08/washington-state-slashes-uninsurance-rate.html?ana=e_sea_rdup&s=newsletter&ed=2014-08-12&u=ColXVN5SPzQtLHFP87ho2w07857290&t=1407890222

[Aristus]

1. I'm seeing it at the street level.

So many of my homeless patients now have insurance. This is the greatest gift to the taxpayers in decades. Health insurance is keeping the homeless population out of the emergency rooms, where they used to have to go for primary care. Primary care at an ER is outrageously expensive, and hospitals pass that expense off either to the insured, or to the tax-payers as a write-off.

Now, formerly un-insured patients are seeking primary care in the proper setting, local clinics, and often in a timely manner; getting an acute condition evaluated before it becomes an emergency.



I wish there was a Washington State flag icon like the US flag one...