Thanks largely to health plans offered through employee benefits, the nation's uninsured rate continues to fall, down once again in the month of April.
According to polling research firm Gallup, the percentage of people without health insurance in the first full month of spring slid to 13.4 percent – a more than 1 percent dip from March when the rate was at 15 percent. Additionally, after peaking in the summer of last year, the number of people without coverage has consistently fallen ever since.
It's current level is at its lowest ebb since September 2008, when it was just under 14 percent.
Among various age groups, the uninsured rate dropped for people 18 to 25 years of age, 26 to 34 years and 35 to 64 years. The biggest decline was observed among 35- to 64-year-olds, easing from 16 percent in the first three-month period of the year to just over 13 percent in April, Gallup revealed. The only age group where the rate increased was for people over the age of 65, up two basis points to 2.2 percent. However, seniors far and away represent the lowest percentage of individuals without coverage.
Jenna Levy, methodologist at Gallup, indicated that what direction the uninsured rate takes in the months to come largely depends on the consumer.
"Factors that may push the uninsured rate down include more states choosing to expand Medicaid and more Americans electing to buy insurance as penalty amounts increase," said Levy. Gallup research shows that the uninsured rate, on average, has dropped more in states that have elected to expand Medicaid and run their own health care exchanges than in states that have not."
As a share of the potential health marketplace population, nearly 30 percent of Americans have signed up for coverage through the exchanges, according to new data released by Kaiser Family Foundation.
