Uninsured rate continues to drop in Obamacare era: poll

The uninsured rate continued to drop in the age of Obamacare, according to a survey released Monday that showed a 1 percentage point dip from the final quarter of 2014 to the start of this year.

Overall, the rate of Americans lacking coverage has dropped 5.2 points — to 11.9 percent — since the final quarter of 2013, or right before the Affordable Care Act’s main provisions took effect, the Gallup-Healthways survey found.

Pollsters said an improving economy and decreasing unemployment rate may have contributed to the drop.

“However, the uninsured rate is significantly lower than it was in early 2008, before the depths of the economic recession, suggesting that the recent decline is due to more than just an improving economy,” they said.

Among subgroups, the survey found lower income Americans and Hispanics saw the steepest drops in their uninsured rates.

The rate among those making less than $36,000 in household income has dropped 8.7 points since the close of 2013.

Hispanics saw an 8.3 percent drop but remain far more likely than whites or blacks to be uninsured, with 30.4 percent of their population still lacking coverage, according to Gallup-Healthways.

The companies starting tracking the rate in 2008, when it stood at 14 percent. The rate climbed to 17 percent in 2011 and to 18 percent by 2013’s third quarter.

Then, Obamacare began to offer subsidized insurance to qualified customers on state-based insurance exchanges, and about half the states expanded their Medicaid programs.

The administration said in March that a net 16.4 million Americans have gained insurance because of the law.

Yet President Obama’s overhaul required most Americans to hold health insurance as of January 2014, so critics say progress in cutting the uninsured rate was taken by force.