Survey: Number Of Uninsured Dropped 3.8 Million During 2014’s First Quarter
The survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, may not reflect the late surge in enrollment before the health law's March deadline and will likely draw criticism from health law supporters and critics alike. It also tracked physical health.
The New York Times: Number of Americans Without Health Insurance Falls, Survey Shows
Federal researchers reported on Tuesday that the number of Americans without health insurance had declined substantially in the first quarter of this year, the first federal measure of the number of uninsured Americans since the Affordable Care Act extended coverage to millions of people in January. The number of uninsured Americans fell by about 8 percent to 41 million people in the first quarter of this year, compared with 2013, a drop that represented about 3.8 million people and that roughly matched what experts were expecting based on polling by private groups, like Gallup. The survey also measured physical health but found little evidence of change (Tavernise, 9/16).
The Wall Street Journal: Tally Of Uninsured Fell By 3.8 Million In Early 2014
Shortcomings in the data are likely to limit the conclusions that either supporters or critics of the law can draw from it. The survey, based on interview responses for 27,627 people, was carried out from the beginning of January through the end of March, which is when enrollment ended for most consumers. Responses from earlier in the period wouldn't reflect the late surge in enrollment under the law, potentially making the tally of people who gained coverage artificially low (Radnofsky, 9/15).
Kaiser Health News: CDC Survey Finds Drop In Uninsured
The survey, based on data for 27,627 people and released Tuesday, provided an incomplete picture of the effect of federal health law, as its interviews occurred from January through March. Since the Obama administration estimated that nearly half of the 8 million people who signed up for Medicaid or private insurance plans in the new marketplaces did not do so until near or at the conclusion of the enrollment period at the end of March, many of those people’s new insurance status were not captured in the survey. For the initial part of the year, the survey found the most pronounced drop in uninsured coverage among adults aged 19–25. That number decreased to 20.9 percent in the beginning of 2014 from 26.5 percent in 2013. ...The new survey found that the number of young adults obtaining public insurance such as Medicaid increased to 19.9 percent in the beginning of 2014 from 16.1 percent in 2013 (Rau, 9/16).
Politico: Fewer Uninsured, CDC Finds
But the survey does not capture the tidal wave of last minute sign-ups who flooded into the new health insurance exchanges in March. They had signed up — but their coverage didn’t begin until April at the earliest, so their new health insurance won’t show up until the second quarter survey (Norman, 9/16).