Though the vast majority of Americans get their health insurance via employee benefits – or plans that they get through their workplace – an ever increasing percentage of people who aren't insured say they'll look to the exchanges for the help they'll need.
More than 55 percent of uninsured consumers said that they intend to buy insurance through a government health exchange, according to polling firm Gallup. this marks the first time that more than half of respondents said they intended to utilize the health marketplaces rather than some other means of attainment.
The survey company speculated that a potential explanation for individuals being more inclined to patronize the exchanges may be due to their being fewer glitches at websites like HealthCare.gov. Alternatively, some may be doing so because they're out of other options, as the postponement of the employer mandate doesn't go into effect until 2015.
The current uninsured rate in the country, according to Gallup, stands at 16 percent, down a full percentage point from December's 17 percent.
"A small but notable drop in the percentage of Americans who are uninsured in January, the first month new health plans went into effect, is a positive sign the Affordable Care Act is making progress toward its goal of getting more Americans covered," said Jeffrey Jones, a Gallup methodologist. "Another positive sign may be the increasing percentage of the remaining pool of the uninsured who are planning to get insurance through the exchanges that were created by the law."
However, a more discouraging findings, also revealed by Gallup, is that fewer people have health insurance today than in 2009. That percentage dropped from 84 percent five years ago to its current 83.8 percent, The Daily Caller reported. The two basis point drop is the equivalent of about 600,000 people.
