Number Of Uninsured Dropped By 8.8M In Health Law’s First Year, Official Survey Finds
That decline was reported by the CDC's National Health Interview Survey, which is considered to be the gold standard by researchers. Black Americans under the age of 65 made the biggest gains, with uninsured rates falling by nearly a third from 18.9 percent to 13.5 percent.
The New York Times:
Fewer Poor Uninsured, Study Finds In Health Law
The share of poor Americans who were uninsured declined substantially in 2014, according to the first full year of federal data since the Affordable Care Act extended coverage to millions of Americans last year. The drop was largely in line with earlier findings by private polling companies such as Gallup, but was significant because of its source — the National Health Interview Survey, a long-running federal survey considered to be a gold standard by researchers. The findings are being released on Tuesday. (Taversnise, 6/23)
The Huffington Post:
Obamacare's First Year Brought Health Insurance To Millions, Official Survey Says
Millions of people gained health insurance last year as Affordable Care Act benefits took effect, according to the first official accounting by the federal government.
In 2014, 36 million U.S. residents, or 11.5 percent of the population, were uninsured on the day they were surveyed, a decline of 8.8 million people and 2.9 percentage points from the year before, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Health Interview Survey.
The Affordable Care Act remains unpopular, and is besieged politically and legally. The Republican-controlled Congress continues efforts to unwind the law, GOP presidential hopefuls vow to shepherd its repeal and the Supreme Court is poised to rule on a lawsuit conceived by conservative and libertarian activists that would undo much of Obamacare's expansion of health coverage. (Young, 6/23)
Bloomberg:
Uninsured Rate Falls To Lowest Since Obamacare Implementation
The share of working-age people without health insurance fell by more than 4 percentage points in 2014, the biggest drop since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began reporting the data in 1997. Last year, 16.3 percent of adults under age 65, or about 31.7 million people, lacked medical coverage, according to a CDC survey published Tuesday. That’s down from 20.4 percent a year earlier. (Burger, 6/23)
Earlier related KHN coverage: Is The Uninsured Rate The Lowest Ever? (Rovner, 6/12)
Meanwhile, The Philadelphia Inquirer polled a group of experts to find out how they approach the pros and cons of long-term care insurance -
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
With Long-Term Care Coverage So Costly, What Do The Pros Do?
Only a dozen or so insurers still sell policies covering it, but one thing hasn't changed: Long-term care is still extraordinarily expensive. The median outlay for a private room in a nursing home was $240 a day ($87,600 a year) in 2014, more than twice the average household income of seniors. And consumers are reluctant to buy the insurance, according to a 2015 study by Wharton School professors Olivia Mitchell and Daniel Gottlieb. (Arvedlund, 6/22)
