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2016 saw rate of uninsured in U.S. fall to lowest level on record

CDC: 8.8% lacked coverage in first 9 months of year

By Noam N. Levey, Tribune Washington Bureau
Published: February 14, 2017, 8:10pm

WASHINGTON — The nation’s uninsured rate tumbled further last year, hitting the lowest rate on record, according to new government data that underscored what is at stake in the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

In the first nine months of 2016, just 8.8 percent of Americans lacked health coverage, survey data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show.

That was down from 16 percent in 2010, when President Barack Obama signed the health care law, often called Obamacare.

President Donald Trump and GOP congressional leaders have pledged to roll back the law and replace it with something that will provide Americans with more affordable health care options.

On Tuesday, House Republican leaders repeated their pledges. “We will have a stable transition, where no one has the rug pulled out from under them while we work toward a better, more stable system,” House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters at the Capitol.

But Republicans are struggling to develop an alternative, even as growing numbers of Americans express concern about the repeal campaign.

And to date, neither the Trump administration nor Republicans in Congress have detailed how they plan to preserve the health protections that millions have gained through the current law.

The new report released Tuesday — which is based on surveys of more than 73,000 people’s health insurance nationally — indicates that approximately 20.4 million people have gained coverage since 2010.

The most dramatic declines began after the law’s system of coverage expansion began in 2014.

That year, states were able to access federal aid through the law to expand their Medicaid programs to cover more very low-income residents.

To date, 31 states have taken advantage of the Medicaid expansion.

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