Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Uninsured Rate Remains Basically Flat Despite Republicans' Attempts To Chip Away At Health Law
The New York Times: Despite Attacks On Obamacare, The Uninsured Rate Held Steady Last Year
Last year, Trump administration officials declared Obamacare “dead,” pulled enrollment ads offline, distributed social media videos critical of the law and sent signals that the law’s requirement to buy health insurance was no longer in effect. But the number of Americans with health insurance stayed largely unchanged. The results of a big, government survey on health insurance status were published Tuesday, and they show that the uninsured rate remained basically flat at 9.1 percent in the first year of the Trump presidency. (Sanger-Katz, 5/22)
The Associated Press: US Clings To Health Coverage Gains Despite Political Drama
Overall, the survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 9.1 percent of Americans were uninsured in 2017, or a little more than 29 million people. After nearly a year of Trump, that was almost the same as toward the end of the Obama administration. For perspective, the uninsured rate dropped from 16 percent since the Affordable Care Act was signed in 2010, which translates roughly to 19 million people gaining coverage. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 5/22)
CQ: Uninsured Rate Saw Small Rise In 2017, Survey Shows
Younger adults between the ages of 25 and 34 were nearly twice as likely to not have insurance coverage than older adults between the ages of 45 and 65, the survey found. The Obama administration had sought to pull more “young invincibles” into the insurance exchanges to improve the healthiness of the population of people purchasing coverage there in an effort to drive down premium costs. Adults in states that relied on HealthCare.gov for its coverage under the health law were more likely to be uninsured than adults in states that ran their own marketplaces or had a federal-state partnership last year, the survey showed. The study found that adults between ages 18 and 64 were less likely to be uninsured if they lived in a state that had expanded eligibility for Medicaid under the 2010 law than if they lived in a state that hadn’t. (McIntire, 5/22)
