The share of uninsured adults ages 18-64 nationwide dropped from 17.6 percent in September 2013 to 10.4 percent in September 2015—a 40.7 percent drop—a new analysis shows. Prepared by researchers at the Urban Institute with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the brief provides insight into the steep decline in the number of uninsured adults as the third open enrollment period starts.
The data quantify gains in insurance coverage by age, race/ethnicity, and income while highlighting ongoing coverage disparities. Among the authors’ key findings, the data show coverage rates climbed 10.1 percentage points among young adults (aged 18-30), 12.4 percentage points among Hispanics, and 15.6 percentage points among adults in families with annual incomes less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or $27,724 for a family of three. The researchers say despite the gains, individuals in these same groups remain the most likely to be uninsured, so continued enrollment efforts should be targeted at them.
Similar to previously released data, the analysis shows that states that expanded Medicaid cut their uninsured rates by more than half (53.8%). States that did not expand Medicaid saw a 25.4 percent drop. States that did not expand Medicaid now have an average uninsured rate more than twice as high as states that did.
“The good news is that the major decline in the rate of people without insurance is basically holding steady through the third quarter of 2015,” said Kathy Hempstead, who directs coverage issues at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “Yet it is hard not to notice the big gap in coverage rates between states that have and states that have not expanded Medicaid, particularly among the population with the lowest income.”
