3.2 million more Americans lack health insurance after Trumps first year in office
AMANDA MICHELLE GOMEZ at Think Progress
https://thinkprogress.org/more-americans-without-health-insurance-6d201e3d05aa/
"SNIP..........
More U.S adults are without insurance now than before President Donald Trump took office. The uninsured rate was 12.2 percent at the end of 2017, up 1.3 percentage points from the record low of 10.9 percent at the end of 2016, or the end of President Barack Obama’s final term in office, according to a Gallup and Sharecare national survey released Tuesday.
........
According to Gallup, the 1.3 point increase is an estimated 3.2 million Americans who became uninsured in 2017. Young, Black, Latinx, and low-income residents saw the largest increases in the uninsured rate; Black and Latinx residents saw the biggest shift, with 2.3 and 2.2 point increases respectively. This isn’t too surprising because people of color saw greater gains in coverage than white residents under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — although they’re still more likely to be uninsured.
This seemingly modest increase is the largest single-year increase Gallup and Sharecare have documented since it started in 2008. The drop is significant, but the uninsured rate is still well below the peak of 18 percent in 2013, which was just before the ACA marketplace and individual mandate, or the tax penalty for having insurance, went into effect.
Gallup says several factors relating to the ACA, or Obamacare, marketplace contributed to the increased number of uninsured. Rising insurance premiums on the marketplace factored into the uptick in uninsured. While minimal insurer participation helps drive expensive insurance — and was a problem during the Obama administration — premiums significantly increased when Trump ended critical payments to insurance companies.
..........SNIP"
= new reply since forum marked as read
