New report shows a lower uninsured rate, but medical expenses are getting more expensive for more Americans
The U.S. Census Bureau announced that the uninsured rate in 2015 was at an all time low, with only 9.1% of Americans lacking health coverage. The uninsured rate was at 10.4% in 2014 and was at a high of 13.3% in 2013, which is prior to the launch of the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid Expansion. According to a health insurance research at the University of Michigan, this statistic is showing that “the Affordable Care Act is working provisions are continuing to drive down the number of people without insurance.”
Although the low uninsured rate seems promising, a separate report is showing that the high costs of medical out-of-pocket expenses are bringing more Americans into poverty, according to numbers from 2015. The higher rates for deductibles, copays and coinsurance can attribute to the rising cost of expenses that patients are financially responsible for.
States that did not expand their Medicaid eligibility saw a rise in the number of uninsured, whereas those states that have received the federal finding have a lower uninsured rate.
The uninsured rate contains more people in the working-age adult groups, which are people between the age group of 16 and 30. Older people in Medicare and younger adults that are still covered on their parent’s health plans have a lower uninsured rate.
Read the original article from Modern Healthcare here.
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