As the shake-out of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act continues, it’s still hard to pinpoint how effective the reform measure will be in improving the health of Americans. But clearly, people continue to sign up for the coverage based on the promise of better health care for all.

The National Center for Health Statistics reviewed insurance coverage trends in 37 states from 2013 to 2015, and found the number of people without insurance dropped significantly.

According to the report, there were 16 million fewer people in those states without insurance in 2015 than there were in 2013. Year over year, the decline was about even, with the number dropping by 7.2 million from the 2014 total and by about 9 million from 2013 to 2014.

The percent in those states without insurance stood at 9.1 percent in 2015, down from 11.5 percent in 2014. Other findings included:

The percentage of uninsured adults aged 18 to 64 years decreased from 16.3 percent in 2014 to 12.9 percent in 2015;
There was a corresponding increase in private coverage, from 67.3 to 70.0 percent;
The percentage of children aged younger than 18 years with private coverage increased from 52.6 percent in 2013 to 55.1 percent in 2015;
The percentage of those under 65 years of age with private coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace or state-based exchanges increased from 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014 to 4.2 percent in the third quarter of 2015.

Instant Insights /

Study offers evidence of significant drop in uninsured

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