By Melissa Attias, CQ Roll Call
July 23, 2014 -- The Obama administration touted the results of a new study last week that estimated that the uninsured rate for non-elderly adults fell by 5.2 percentage points after the close of the first open enrollment period under the health care law.
That drop translates to 10.3 million adults ages 18 to 64 gaining coverage, according to the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The authors noted, however, that different models and confidence intervals mean the figure could range from 7.3 to 17.2 million adults.
The initial open enrollment period ran from October 2013 through March 2014, and the study compared the uninsured rate from before it kicked off to after it ended. After the close of the enrollment period, the uninsured rate stayed stable through June 2014.
"We are committed to providing every American with access to quality, affordable health services and this study reaffirms that the Affordable Care Act has set us on a path toward achieving that goal," Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said in a release.
The administration also emphasized that states that expanded Medicaid under the 2010 overhaul (PL 111-148, PL 111-152) saw larger gains than those that did not. About half of states have decided to expand their programs and Burwell said her department is still hopeful others will follow.