Millions more Americans were uninsured in 2017

[DonViejo]

Source: CNN-Money




by Tami Luhby @Luhby
January 16, 2018: 2:03 AM ET

Millions more Americans were uninsured at the end of 2017, the first increase since the Affordable Care Act went into effect.

The uninsured rate rose 1.3 percentage points to 12.2% last year, according to the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index. That represents an increase of roughly 3.2 million Americans.

Under Obamacare, the uninsured rate plummeted to a low of 10.9% at the end of 2016. Obamacare's exchanges opened in 2014, the same year Medicaid expansion began and the individual mandate -- which required nearly all Americans to have insurance or pay a penalty -- took effect.

Those provisions helped reverse a soaring uninsured rate, which hit a peak of 18% in the fall of 2013, fueled in part by the aftermath of the Great Recession.



Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/16/news/economy/uninsured-americans/index.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Uninsured Population Increases By 3.2 Million In Trumps First Year In Office

By Alice Ollstein | January 16, 2018 10:34 am

Over the course of President Donald Trump’s first year in office, the number of Americans without health insurance increased 1.3 percent—with 3.2 million more people uninsured, according to Gallup’s latest tracking report published Tuesday.

It’s the largest one-year increase in the uninsured population since Gallup began the survey in 2008.


The study noted “several factors” swelling the ranks of the uninsured, from increased premiums caused by insurance companies dropping out of the individual market to uncertainty around whether the Trump administration would enforce the individual mandate’s penalty for forgoing health insurance. Exacerbating both factors, the GOP-controlled Congress repealed the individual mandate in December, which is expected to hike premiums by an additional 10 percent or more.

Premiums also went up significantly in 2017 when the Trump administration cut off cost-sharing reduction payments to insurance companies, though the vast majority of people on the individual market were shielded from the increase by a bump in their federal tax credits.

More:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/uninsured-population-increases-by-3-2-million-in-trumps-first-year-in-office