Gallup, which tracks rates of health insurance for its Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index,
confirms the obvious result of Obamacare implementation in the states:Those that embraced the law and expanded Medicaid have reduced uninsured rates more than those who fought it.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The uninsured rate among adults aged 18 and older in the states that have chosen to expand Medicaid and set up their own exchanges in the health insurance marketplace has declined significantly more this year than in the remaining states that have not done so. The uninsured rate, on average, declined 2.5 percentage points in the 21 states (plus the District of Columbia) that have implemented both of these measures, compared with a 0.8-point drop across the 29 states that have taken only one or neither of these actions.
As Gallup previously reported, the states that have chosen to expand Medicaid and set up their own healthcare exchanges had a lower average uninsured rate to begin with: 16.1% compared with 18.7% for the remaining states—a difference of 2.6 points. The already notable gap between the two groups of states widened in the first quarter to 4.3 points.
The states that implemented their own exchanges also made a concerted effort into outreach and education to get people to sign up, increasing their success. These are also the states that generally had more generous Medicaid programs even before the Obamacare expansion of the program, which helps explain why they had lower uninsured rates to begin with.
Basically, we've just got even more evidence that the law is working to do what it was supposed to: get insurance to more people. That's true even in the red states that have done everything in their power to sabotage the law. That's not to say the sabotage didn't work—look how much less effective the law has been in those states. But that also gives us the opportunity to point out—again—that success for Republicans equals more people not getting health care.
