Life
Obamacare update: Latest poll number reveal drop in uninsured
The federal enrollment website serving 26 states went down when it was launched October 1, and it took 2 months to make needed fixes. Meanwhile, at least 4.7 million people had their existing individual policies canceled because those plans didn’t meet the law’s requirements. Republicans hoped “Obamacare” would implode.
The story still could take unexpected turns because open enrollment season doesn’t end until March 31. While the technical problems with HealthCare.gov have largely been cleared up, insurers are still reporting glitches. And consumers getting familiar with the new plans are finding that some tightly restrict their choices of doctors and hospitals.
The Gallup-Healthways survey found that the uninsured rate dropped in January across major subgroups. Women saw a decline of 1.9 percentage points, about 3 times greater than the 0.6 percentage-point drop for men. Uninsured rates also fell all along the income ladder, with those making US$36,000-US$89,999 seeing the greatest drop, 1.8 percentage points.
The survey was based on telephone interviews from January 2-19 with a random sample of 9,145 adults aged 18 and older in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total national sample, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 1 percentage point.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press
