Number of uninsured is lowest since 2009

Number of uninsured is lowest since 2009

Number of uninsured adults drops to 15.9%

As the deadline to enroll on the new insurance exchanges approached, the deadline seemed to spur a dramatic increase in the number of adults enrolling in health insurance plans, according to the National Association of Healthcare Access Management (NAHAM).

According to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index released March 10, the number of Americans with no health insurance dropped to the lowest levels since President Obama was sworn in. (To access the index go to http://bit.ly/1h6I9y2.) The index found that the percent of uninsured adults dropped from 17.1% in the last quarter of 2013 to 15.9% in 2014. Experts attribute the increasing number of insured adults to the insurance plans made available by the Affordable Care Act.

The increase in enrollment was found across all demographic groups examined by the index. However, enrollment throughout the Latino demographic lagged behind other demographic groups. This is notable because the Obama Administration is actively reaching out to the relatively young Hispanic community to encourage enrollment.

In other findings:

• A significant drop in the rate of uninsured adults occurred among African-Americans, with a 2.6 percentage point decline.

• The rate declined 1 percentage point among white adults, but only eight-tenths of a percentage point for Latinos.

• The largest drop in the uninsured rate was a 2.8 percentage point difference for households with an annual income of less than $36,000.