The drop in the level of uninsured was steepest among individuals between ages 19 and 25. Just over 20% of individuals in that age group reported being uninsured, a six-point drop from the prior year.
The survey represents the first official federal measure of healthcare coverage since the full implementation this year of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The interviews of 27,627 individuals were conducted between January and March. The survey doesn't fully reflect the effect of the federal healthcare law since nearly half of all signups through the newly established state and federal exchanges during the initial open enrollment period occurred after March 1.
The survey found that 3.7 million individuals indicated that they were covered by plans purchased through the federal or state-based exchanges. That's less than half of the 8 million enrollments reported by the CMS.
The survey data is roughly in line with other estimates that have been released. Gallup found that the level of uninsured dropped from 17.1% in the fourth quarter of 2013 to 13.4% in the second quarter of this year.
In states that opted to expand Medicaid, the level of uninsured for non-elderly adults was 15.7%, down from 18.4% a year earlier. In non-expansion states, 21.5% of respondents between ages 18 and 64 reporting being uninsured, down 1.2 percentage points from 2013, which the report noted was statistically insignificant.
The survey also showed a steady rise over the past five years in the percentage of respondents enrolled in high-deductible health plans, defined as a deductible of $1,250 for an individual plan and $2,500 for family coverage. More than a third of respondents—36%—enrolled in private coverage indicated that they had a high-deductible plan, up from 25.3% in 2010.
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