Life
Obamacare update: Latest poll number reveal drop in uninsured
“The uninsured rate had been expected to come down as the Affordable Care Act was implemented,” said Frank Newport, Gallup’s editor in chief. “That would be the most reasonable hypothesis.”
Nonetheless, Newport said it could take a calendar quarter, 3 months, to discern a full trend. Other factors could also be behind the shift, including an improving economy.
“It’s a drop, but not extraordinary,” said Newport. “The glass is half full for proponents of the Affordable Care Act because things are moving in the right direction. But the glass is half empty because things haven’t moved much.”
The increase in coverage among unemployed people “comports with what the Affordable Care Act was intended to do,” he added.
Gallup’s numbers are not comparable to various figures cited by the Obama administration, estimates that have ranged as high as 9 million people benefiting.
The administration’s numbers include people buying coverage in the new insurance exchanges, Medicaid enrollees and young adults who can stay on a parent’s plan until they turn 26. But some of those people may have been insured previously; they either had to switch coverage because of the law or they joined a new plan because it turned out to be a better deal.
The coverage rollout has been a wild ride for Obama and congressional Democrats who battled to pass the law 4 years ago against lockstep Republican opposition.
