Decline In States’ Uninsured Rates Vary Widely
California, Kentucky, Illinois -- all states that expanded their Medicaid programs under the health law -- have seen significant cuts in their uninsurance rates, but in other states, such as Texas and Georgia, the declines in uninsured has been more modest.
Sacramento Bee:
California Halves Medically Uninsured Rate To 8.6 Percent
California’s vigorous embrace of Obamacare, particularly its sharp expansion of Medi-Cal coverage for the poor, has ... reduced the state’s medically uninsured population by half, a new Census Bureau report says. Three years ago, California had one of the nation’s lowest rates of medical insurance coverage, with 17.2 percent of its nearly 40 million residents lacking coverage, but by 2015, its uninsured rate had dropped to 8.6 percent, the Census Bureau study found. (Walters, 9/13)
Georgia Health News:
Georgia Again Ranks High In Rate Of Uninsured
Georgia’s uninsured rate of 13.9 percent in 2015 was the nation’s third-highest, trailing only Texas and Alaska, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Tuesday. The rate in Georgia fell from 15.8 percent the previous year. The number of Georgians without health insurance, 1,388,000, was the fourth-highest total in the nation in 2015. (By contrast, Georgia is the No. 8 state in overall population.) (Miller, 9/13)
Chicago Tribune:
Uninsured Rate Drops Again In Illinois After Obamacare Takes Effect
The number of Illinois residents without health insurance dipped below the 1 million mark last year after implementation of the Affordable Care Act, according to Census Bureau data released Tuesday. About 900,000 Illinoisans, or 7.1 percent of state residents, lacked health insurance in 2015. That's down from 1.2 million uninsured in 2014 and far fewer than the 1.6 million who were without insurance in 2013, before many provisions of the Affordable Care Act took effect. (Schencker, 9/13)
Des Moines Register:
Fewer Iowans Lack Insurance, Census Report Says
The number of Iowans without health insurances continues to decline, according to new Census data. Five percent of Iowans lacked insurance in 2015, down from 6.2 percent in 2014 and 8.1 percent in 2013, according to the data released Tuesday as part of a national report on health insurance coverage. In all, about 155,000 Iowans don't have insurance. That's down from about 248,000 two years earlier, a 38 percent drop. (Aschbrenner, 9/13)
Kansas Health Institute:
Uninsured Rates Fall In Kansas And Missouri
The uninsured rates in Kansas and Missouri continue to drop. But they’re declining faster in states that have expanded Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income families, seniors and people with disabilities. New data out Tuesday from the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that Kansas’ uninsured rate dropped to 9.1 percent in 2015, down from 10.2 percent the year before and 12.3 percent in 2013. Over the three-year period, the number of Kansans age 19 to 64 without coverage has declined by about 87,000, dropping from 348,000 to 261,000. In Missouri, the drop from 13 percent to 9.8 percent means that approximately 190,000 residents have gained coverage since 2013 when the number of uninsured totaled about 773,000. (McLean, 9/13)
Lexingon (Ky.) Herald-Leader:
Kentucky’s Uninsured Rate Down To 6% And Obamacare Gets The Credit
Only 6 percent of Kentuckians lacked health insurance in 2015, a drop of 8.3 percentage points since 2013, according to fresh data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The net gain of 355,000 insured people put Kentucky ahead of most other states. The Census Bureau, which released nationwide survey data on insurance coverage Tuesday, said the largest increases in insurance coverage are in the 32 states, including Kentucky, that expanded Medicaid to the working poor under the federal Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. (Cheves, 9/13)
The Star Tribune:
Minnesota Made Big Gains In Health Insurance Coverage, Census Data Show
The share of Minnesotans without health insurance fell sharply for the second straight year in 2015, reaching 4.5 percent, the U.S. Census Bureau said Tuesday. That gave Minnesota the fifth-lowest uninsured rate in the country, after Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, Vermont and Hawaii. An estimated 244,000 Minnesotans lacked health insurance in 2015, according to census estimates. That’s down almost half from 2013, when 440,000 were uninsured. (Howatt, 9/13)
Texas Tribune:
Texas' Uninsured Rate Continues To Fall
Texas' rate of uninsured people fell to 17.1 percent in 2015 as part of a steady decline in the share of uninsured residents following the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, according to new Census estimates released Tuesday. The state's rate of uninsured fell two percentage points from 2014 to 2015, but Texas still has the highest percentage of people without health insurance in the country. Texas is also home to the largest number of uninsured people in the country with about 4.6 million uninsured residents. (Ura, 9/13)
Richmond Times Dispatch:
Census Bureau: Rate Of Insured Virginians Increased In 2015
The U.S. Census Bureau released data Tuesday that highlighted improvements in Virginia’s rate of insured residents — and showed how far it has to go. According to the bureau’s 2015 data, the number of insured residents in Virginia rose from 89.1 percent in 2014 to 90.9 percent in 2015. (Demeria, 9/13)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Uninsured Rate Falls In Wisconsin
The uninsured rate in Wisconsin has fallen by more than one-third over the past two years, new federal data show. The number of Wisconsin residents without health insurance fell from 518,000 in 2013 to 323,000 in 2015, according to the figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. (Stein and Crowe, 9/13)
