Gallup: Uninsured Rate Falls to Lowest Level in Poll’s History

Gallup, which has been tracking the uninsured rate since 2008, found that the percentage of Americans without insurance has fallen to 13.4%, lower than before President Barack Obama took office, and the lowest rate in the six years of the poll. Here, have a graph:

The drop of 4.6 percentage points coincides with the implementation of the central provisions of the Affordable Care Act, from the states’ Medicaid expansion to the state and federal health insurance exchanges, which experienced a late-March surge in enrollment.

The decrease was most pronounced among blacks and Latinos, and those in the lower third of the income spectrum. Gallup also found a significant drop in the uninsured rate for 18-34 year olds since the end of 2013 (i.e., likely in addition to those under twenty-six who joined their parents’ insurance, a provision that has been in effect for some time).

The initial first-quarter decline in 2014 was mirrored in reports from the RAND Corporation and the Congressional Budget Office; this poll is the first to reflect the late surge in enrollment. The CBO projects the uninsured rate to continue decreasing to about 11%.

h[/t Gallup / New Republic]

[Image via txking / Shutterstock.com]

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