This is a guest post from Enroll Nebraska intern Sally Henry.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the percentage of Americans without health insurance dropped from 13.3 to 10.4 percent between the years of 2013 and 2014. In other words, 8.8 million people gained health insurance.
Kaiser Health News recently published a succinct overview of the Census Bureau’s study results in this article. This is the biggest drop in the uninsured rate since 2008 and it is because of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
The largest increases of people gaining coverage came within groups that usually are more likely to be uninsured. More people with low and moderate incomes, working-age adults, people covered by Medicaid, and people buying their own health plans are now being covered under the ACA.
Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics each saw a drop of more than four percentage points in their uninsured rate, while the White non-Hispanic population dropped by a couple percentage points.
In addition to this, states that opted to expand Medicaid experienced larger rates of overall gains in insurance than states that have not chosen to expand Medicaid.
Despite these nationwide increases in coverage, the Census study still found that about 33 million Americans remain uninsured.
The 2016 open enrollment window starts on November 1, 2015 and closes January 31, 2016. To sign up for coverage, visit healthcare.gov during open enrollment or call 2-1-1 to find an enrollment assister to help find the right plan for you.