With ACA’s Fate Uncertain, New Study Finds Uninsured Rates Have Dropped in All States
<p>By 2015, the percentage of uninsured working-age adults had declined everywhere in the U.S. following the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s health coverage provisions in 2014, a new Commonwealth Fund analysis finds. Uninsured rates for low-income adults also fell everywhere, with Kentucky’s 25-percentage-point drop leading the nation. </p><p>While states opting to expand Medicaid were the most likely to realize big declines in their uninsured rates, even states that had not expanded as of January 2015 saw large shares of their residents gain health coverage. Researchers say that’s because many people enrolled in plans through the ACA marketplaces while others became aware that they qualified for their state’s existing Medicaid program. </p>
<p>The study also finds that, since the ACA took effect, adults in the majority of states are less likely to report that costs prevented them from going to a doctor when they needed health care.</p>