A new report from Wallet Hub published on Wednesday, July 9th, and titled “Rates of Uninsured by State Before & After Obamacare” makes it clear that the number of individuals and families who do not have health insurance has declined dramatically since the implementation of President Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act (full interactive below).
Methodology for the data in the Wallet Hub report
The Wallet Hub report uses data from a recently published study by the Kaiser Family Foundation as it offers the best current estimate of the number of private health plan enrollees under Obamacare who did not previously have health insurance, and are gaining coverage under the new law. KFF’s national survey of adults who purchase their own insurance determined that 57% of private health insurance plan enrollees were previously uninsured.
Wallet hub took this new data and correlated it with recent data on the number of new Medicaid recipients and private plan enrollees under Obamacare. The result is an estimate of uninsured rates for 43 states and the District of Columbia almost two years after the initial implementation of Obamacare.
Obamacare: Comparison of uninsured by state
Massachusetts takes the top spot for the lowest rate of uninsured in the country post-Obamacare with just 1.2% of residents lacking health insurance. Massachusetts was already one of the national leaders before Obamacare, with an uninsured rate of 4.35%.
Following the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, Rhode Island has the second lowest rate of uninsured residents in the country at 5.6%. Before Obamacare, however, 14.65% of Rhode Island’s residents did not have any kind of health insurance.
The District of Columbia came in third nationwide in lowest uninsured rate post-Obamacare, posting an uninsured rate of just 6.29%, dropping almost 3% from 9.09% before Obamacare.
West Virginia and Oregon showed the greatest improvement in uninsured rates after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, vaulting them from near the bottom of the rankings before to sixth and fifth place after, respectively. Oregon is estimated to currently have an uninsured rate of 6.38%, and West Virginia’s current estimated uninsured rate is 6.59%.
Mississippi is a national embarrassment
Mississippi’s current estimated 21.46% uninsured rate is the second worst in the country (after Texas). Mississippi also owns the dubious honor of being the only state where the uninsured rate actually went up post-Obamacare.
