Ali Meyer of the Washington Free Beacon dives into the latest numbers surrounding health insurance in America.
After four years of Affordable Care Act implementation, the percentage of adults with no health care insurance has hit 12.2 percent in the last quarter of 2017, according to data from Gallup.
In October of 2013, the Obamacare exchanges opened and by January of 2014 the individual mandate, which requires that Americans purchase health insurance, was implemented.
In the last quarter of 2016, the percentage of uninsured hit a record low of 10.9 percent. A year later, in the last quarter of 2017, the percentage of uninsured increased by 1.3 points—the largest single-year increase Gallup has seen since it began tracking the measure in 2008. This percentage-point increase is estimated to total 3.2 million Americans. …
… The data show that the uninsured rate for young individuals ages 18 to 25 rose the most from the last quarter of 2016 to 2017, by two percentage points. In the last quarter of 2017, for those ages 18 to 25, the uninsured rate is 16.7 percent. For those ages 26 to 34, the uninsured rate is 20.1 percent.
“Young adults serve a critical function in health care markets because their low usage of health care helps offset the higher costs of insuring older Americans,” the report said.
The uninsured rate was also higher among Hispanics and lower-income earners. The uninsured rate for Hispanics was 29.6 percent, for white Americans it was 7.6 percent, and for black Americans it was 14.8 percent. For those earning less than $36,000, the uninsured rate was 22.8 percent. For those earning $36,000 to $90,000, the uninsured rate was 10.6 percent. And for those earning more than $90,000, the uninsured rate was 3.5 percent.
