Census Bureau report shows effectiveness of Affordable Care Act

More importantly, said Rowland, “the gains are exactly where the biggest problems were”, meaning the largest increases in coverage were in those groups with traditionally the highest rates of uninsurance – younger, working-age adults and people with low and moderate incomes. The national uninsured rate fell to 10.4 percent in the first year of expanded coverage under the ACA.

“The new report released from the Census Bureau shows a significant drop in the number of uninsured Iowans and Americans, and much of the decrease can be directly tied to provisions included in the Affordable Care Act”. The Lone Star State has also edged out California with the largest raw number of uninsured people in the country.

The U.S. Census Bureau will release additional finding on Thursday, including state and local data on poverty, employment and other issues.

The biggest changes past year came from those directly purchasing insurance and from an increase in Medicaid enrollment, according to the report, considered the most consistent and complete picture of the nation’s health coverage. “It’s not in income, it’s not in poverty rates, but it is in basic coverage of health insurance”.

State Demographer Susan Brower tells MPR News dropping from more than eight percent to less than six percent means the number of uninsured Minnesotans fell about 123,000 in a year.

Among children, the poverty rate in Connecticut in 2014 was 14.9 percent, statistically unchanged from 2013, but up from 12.8 percent in 2010.

It’s a similar story when it comes to health insurance.

Actual 2014 uninsurance rates vary widely between the states. While 10 percent of non-Hispanic whites were poor previous year , the poverty rate for blacks and Hispanics was about 2 1/2 times higher.

” ‘African-American children saw an increase in their poverty rate this year by about 3.4 percentage points, ‘ Wilson said”. That survey counts people as uninsured only if they have gone without health coverage for the entire year.

Massachusetts, where Medicaid was expanded to included low-income people, had the fewest uninsured a year ago with 3.7 percent not covered.