Has Obamacare Resulted in More People Overall with Health Insurance (Including Medicaid Recipients)? – YES

“The number of uninsured nonelderly adults fell by an estimated 10.6 million between September 2013 and September 2014 as the uninsurance rate fell from 17.7 percent to 12.4 percent—a drop of 30.1 percent.

Most of the gain in coverage was among the low and middle-income adults targeted by the ACA’s Medicaid and Marketplace provisions.

The uninsurance rate dropped 36.3 percent in states that implemented the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, compared with 23.9 percent in nonexpansion states; 54.7 percent of uninsured nonelderly adults lived in nonexpansion states in September 2014.”

“Earlier this week, the National Center for Health Statistics released new data on health insurance coverage during the second quarter of 2014, the first federal survey data that largely capture the effects of the Affordable Care Act’s first open enrollment period. These new data confirm earlier findings that 2014 has seen dramatic reductions in the share of Americans without health insurance, reductions that correspond to an estimated 10 million people gaining coverage since before the start of open enrollment…

The findings from the NHIS are consistent with estimates based on other surveys conducted by the Urban Institute and the Commonwealth Fund and an analysis of data from the Gallup-Healthways well-being index published in the New England Journal of Medicine this summer. All of these sources show coverage gains of around 10 million during 2014.”

“A new Commonwealth Fund survey finds that in the wake of the Affordable Care Act’s first open enrollment period, significantly fewer working-age adults are uninsured than just before the sign-up period began, and many have used their new coverage to obtain needed care.

The uninsured rate for people ages 19 to 64 declined from 20 percent in the July-to-September 2013 period to 15 percent in the April-to-June 2014 period. An estimated 9.5 million fewer adults were uninsured. Young men and women drove a large part of the decline: the uninsured rate for 19-to-34-year-olds declined from 28 percent to 18 percent, with an estimated 5.7 million fewer young adults uninsured.”

“For the first nine months of 2014, individual-market enrollment grew by 5.83 million, but 4.93 million individuals lost employer coverage—offsetting 85 percent of the individual-market gain. Thus, the net increase in private health insurance for 2014 is so far 893,000 individuals. During the same period, Medicaid enrollment grew by almost 7.49 million. Taken together, the number of Americans with health insurance increased by 8.38 million during the first nine months of 2014, but growth in Medicaid accounted for 89 percent of that gain.”

“Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion is responsible for almost all of the law’s net increase in people with coverage. Through the first nine months of 2014, the increase in individual market enrollment was 5.8 million people, which was largely offset by the 4.9 million people who lost workplace coverage. Over the same time, enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program increased by 7.5 million people. The total increase in Medicaid accounted for 89 percent of the net increase in people with insurance coverage between January 1 and September 30, 2014.”

“We know that about 10 million more people have insurance coverage this year as a result of the Affordable Care Act…

Over all, about 10 million Americans who had no insurance in 2013 signed up for it this year, according to the Enroll America/Civis model. The groups estimate that the national uninsured rate for adults under 65 fell to 11 percent from 16 percent.”