Uninsured Rate Drops to Lowest Point Since 2008
The rate of uninsured Americans dropped to 15.6 percent in the first quarter of 2014, its lowest point since late 2008, Gallup reports. The uninsured rate dropped 1.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013, according to Gallup, which interviewed about 28,000 Americans from Jan. 2 to Feb. 28. The rate has declined for nearly every demographic group, though Hispanics remain the least likely to have health insurance coverage. Gallup's data show that approximately 3.5 million people have recently gotten coverage, the Associated Press reports. Gallup says that the findings suggest the Affordable Care Act is succeeding at getting Americans to sign up for health insurance coverage. President Barack Obama recently announced that 7.1 million Americans have enrolled in coverage under the ACA. The Gallup survey did not show a high number of young people signing up towards the deadline, which the Obama administration wanted as healthy young enrollees effective subsidize older Americans involved in the exchanges. The White House recently announced that Americans who began but did not complete enrollment in the Affordable Care Act's health exchanges by the March 31 deadline have until April 15 to finish the process.