The uninsured rate continues its historic decline under Obamacare, according to the latest
Gallup survey. Gallup began surveying on insurance in 2008. Last spring, following the first enrollments in Obamacare, the uninsured rate fell below the 2008, pre-Great Recession levels. It's fallen even further after the second enrollment period opened last November.
The uninsured rate among U.S. adults for the fourth quarter of 2014 averaged 12.9%. This is down slightly from 13.4% in the third quarter of 2014 and down significantly from 17.1% a year ago. The uninsured rate has dropped 4.2 percentage points since the Affordable Care Act's requirement for Americans to have health insurance went into effect one year ago.
[…] The 12.9% who lacked health insurance in the fourth quarter is the lowest Gallup and Healthways have recorded since beginning to track the measure daily in 2008. The 2015 open enrollment period began in the fourth quarter on Nov. 15 and will close on Feb. 15.
Let's put some political context to those numbers in light of the
King v. Burwell challenge the U.S. Supreme Court will hear this spring. According to the administration,
87 percent of those enrollees got some level of subsidy for their insurance. In Mississippi, a whopping 95 percent of enrollees get the financial assistance that the
King case jeopardizes. In raw numbers, as
estimated by our buddy Charles Gaba, that's between 5 and 6 million people who would lose the subsidy and most likely their insurance.
When Republicans talk about repeal, when they hope out loud that the Supreme Court will kill the law for them, this is what they're talking about. Taking insurance away from as many as six million people. No wonder they're pretending they'll come up with their own plan. Any day now, I'm sure.