President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law one year ago, but Americans are not yet reporting an impact. Gallup tracks Americans' health insurance coverage daily as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index and so far has found no change in the percentage of uninsured in the United States.
Below are three key graphics about the state of health insurance in the United States.
1. Here is a graph of the monthly percentage of uninsured adults in the U.S. since March 2010, when the law was passed; it reveals that 16.3% of adults were uninsured in February of 2011, the exact same figure as in March 2010:
The most significant parts of the law, however -- the individual mandate, the creation of health insurance exchanges, and the expansion of Medicaid -- don't go into effect until 2014. But, some key provisions have already been implemented including the transitional insurance pool that allows uninsured people with a pre-existing condition to purchase care.
2. This graph reveals a key trend Gallup has been tracking: The percentage of Americans who are getting their health insurance from an employer is down, while government-based coverage is up. These trends, however, started in early 2009 as unemployment increased and before Congress passed the healthcare law.
3. Mapping the uninsured: More Americans living in Texas were uninsured in 2010 than in any other state (27.8%). Massachusetts -- where state law mandates essentially all adults to buy health insurance -- continued to have the lowest percentage of uninsured.
Metro-area level data released today find close to half of adults (46.1%) living in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas, were uninsured in 2010, more than in any other metro area. Uninsured rates last year were also highest in metro areas with large Hispanic populations.
You can now explore uninsured data by state and metro area on Gallup.com.
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index data also provide up-to-date insight into which groups of Americans remain the most vulnerable. Here are the highlights:
- About 4 in 10 Hispanics (38.9%) in the United States are uninsured, more than any other group
- Low-income Americans (those with an income of less than $36,000 per year) are also among the most likely be uninsured, at 29.7%
- A similar percentage -- 28.0% -- of young adults also lack healthcare coverage
Whether the percentage of uninsured will start to decline, and at what point, is unknown. Gallup and Healthways can track this statistic as additional pieces of the law take effect and will continue to report findings on a regular basis on Gallup.com.
To stay up to date on Gallup's latest health and well-being findings in the United States, sign up to receive all of our well-being news via e-mail alert or RSS.
To get the latest news from Thrive as soon as it publishes, sign up for our feed via e-mail.