So now will Republicans say Gallup is
cooking their books to show millions more people have gained health insurance because of Obamacare?
In the U.S., the uninsured rate dipped to 15.6% in the first quarter of 2014, a 1.5-percentage-point decline from the fourth quarter of 2013. The uninsured rate is now at the lowest level recorded since late 2008.
The uninsured rate has been falling since the fourth quarter of 2013, after hitting an all-time high of 18.0% in the third quarter -- a sign that the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as "Obamacare," appears to be accomplishing its goal of increasing the percentage of Americans with health insurance coverage.
That survey, of more than than 43,500 adults, is huge, which makes these results difficult to unskew, and also makes the numbers just a little bit better than the official numbers coming out of the White House by about half a million. Gallup's numbers would be larger if they included children, as the official count does. And what about the number of young people needed to keep the whole thing working? Gallup finds that the "uninsured rate dropped by about the same amount among adults aged 26 to 64 as it did among those aged 18 to 25—two points." Yes, young people signed up.
One of the many talking points Republicans have been left with is that, sure, maybe millions of people signed up under Obamacare, but hardly any of them were uninsured, so there. Not so, says this unbiased survey. And there will be more throughout the year under Medicaid expansion, because there is no deadline for enrolling in that program, and people will be signing up there all year long.
