Obamacare meeting goal of extending coverage to more Americans, new report says

About 10.3 million nonelderly adults who previously had no health insurance have gained some form of coverage, either through Medicaid or the exchanges, since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's inaugural open-enrollment period last year, a new government report shows (PDF).

The report from HHS' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation backs up July estimates from the New England Journal of Medicine, which said the ACA has been a factor in the decline of the country's uninsured rate. The report, based partially on Gallup data, also comes about two weeks before Obamacare's second enrollment period begins Nov. 15.

The uninsured rate among adults ages 18 to 64 as of June 2014 was 15.1%, according to the government report, down considerably from 20.3% recorded in September 2013. Health coverage improved most among blacks and Latinos. The number of uninsured blacks dropped 6.8%, as of June 2014, with more than 1.7 million gaining health insurance. The Latino uninsured rate fell 7.7%, as more than 2.6 million got coverage.

Four publicly traded companies—Centene Corp., Molina Healthcare, UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint—have already reported massive year-over-year increases in Medicaid enrollment.

The data are still incomplete, ASPE warned, but 2014 full-year data are expected to show similar trends in the uninsured. “It seems likely that future data will show that the Affordable Care Act is continuing to provide health insurance coverage to a large and growing group of Americans,” the report states.

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