Uninsured rates fall across Minnesota, new census data show

The drop in the uninsured was expected as states expanded Medicaid and millions of Americans signed up for private insurance through new marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act.

Still, New Mexico’s 4.1 percentage point drop in the uninsured population was among the largest nationwide; only eight other states had decreases of more than 4 percentage points.

In Ohio, where the Republican Gov. John Kasich enacted the expansion despite opposition from many in his party, the number of uninsured dropped by 24 percent or about 302,000 people.

Colorado’s child poverty rate continued to fall previous year, dipping from 16.9 percent in 2013 to 15.4 percent in 2014.

“This is the largest one-year change in the number of uninsured Americans that we have seen since numbers started being collected”, said Timothy McBride, PhD, professor at the Brown School and noted health policy analyst.

Census data released last week shows that even some of the states that have expanded Medicaid eligibility still have rates of uninsured above the national average.

“In 2014, real median household income was 6.5 percent lower than in 2007, the year before the most recent recession,” said the Census report.

According to the Census Bureau, 18.7 percent of residents were living below the poverty level past year , statistically comparable to the 18.2 percent recorded in 2013.

Those are a few takeaways from new U.S. Census data released Thursday.

Massachusetts had the lowest percentage of uninsured residents, at 3.3. Between 2013 and 2014, the Bureau estimates 123,000 formerly uninsured Minnesotans obtained health insurance, leading to a 2.3 percentage point drop in the uninsured rate. That marks a shift after years of steady rates on the number of Americans lacking health insurance between 2008 and 2013.

Note: Four states that did not expand Medicaid in 2014-Pennsylvania, Indiana, Alaska, and Montana-have done so in 2015, though Montana’s expansion still requires federal approval before it can take effect. Data on health insurance coverage, employment by industry, food stamp recipiency, poverty, and income inequality also came from the 2014 ACS.