Number of Uninsured Has Declined by 15 Million Since 2013, Administration speke.

The number of people without health insurance continues to decline and has dropped by 15.8 million, or one-third, since 2013, the Obama administration said Tuesday. The decline occurred as major provisions of the Affordable Care Act took effect. The law expanded coverage through Medicaid and through subsidies for private insurance, starting in 2014. In the first three months of this year, the National Center for Health Statistics said, 29 million people were uninsured. That was seven million fewer than the average for 2014, after a reduction of 8.8 million from 2013 to 2014. The data may bolster Democrats’ claims that the law is working as they intended, but it is unlikely to prompt Republicans to let up on criticism of the law, which was passed without any Republican votes.




  The center said that the proportion of the population without insurance had declined by five percentage points, to 9.2 percent, in the first quarter of this year, from 14.4 percent in 2013. Among people age 18 to 64, the number who were uninsured dropped by about one-third, to 25.5 million, in the first quarter of this year, from 39.6 million in 2013. And among children under 18, the number of uninsured declined to 3.4 million this year,

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/12/us/number-of-uninsured-has-declined-by-15-million-since-2013-administration-says.html?_r=0
 from 4.8 million in 2013. The decline in the number of uninsured coincides with improvements in the economy. In the last two years, the recovery has gained traction and the unemployment rate has declined steadily.





 The numbers for the first quarter of this year, from the National Health Interview Survey, are estimates based on data for 26,121 people. The information was collected in household interviews by the Census Bureau, using procedures specified by the National Center for Health Statistics, a part of the Public Health Service.



The survey focused on the civilian population outside prisons and nursing homes. The report suggests that the Affordable Care Act produced the most significant gains in coverage among poor people and those with income just over the poverty level, which is $11,770 for an individual.