The study confirmed what has already been widely reported:states that opted not to expand Medicaid through the ACA have muchhigher uninsured rates. (Photo: Shutterstock)

In 2017, the first year of the Trump administration, thepercentage of Americans without health insurance increased from 10percent to 10.2 percent, a new analysis finds. That marked the first timesince 2013, the year the Affordable Care Act was implemented, thatthe uninsured rate increased.

The rise in the uninsured rate came despite a significantincrease in the number of people covered by employer-sponsored plans. While 2.3 millionmore people got health insurance through their jobs, the numbergetting coverage through Medicaid, CHIP or the Obamacaremarketplace decreased by 1.9 million.

Related: Who are America’s uninsured?

Overall, 700,000 more people lacked insurance in 2017 than 2016,according to the analysis by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation andthe Urban Institute.

The study confirmed what has already been widely reported:states that opted not to expand Medicaid through the ACA have muchhigher uninsured rates. They also experienced an increase in theuninsured rate, from 13.7 percent to 14.3 percent, while the rateremained flat in expansion states at 7.6 percent.

While researchers are not able to yet examine the data from2018, they predict that the uninsured rate climbed again due to thetax legislation signed into law at the end of 2017, which ended theObamacare individual mandate.

The Trump administration has also sought to undermine Obamacareenrollment by reducing the open enrollment period, cutting fundsfor marketing of the ACA marketplace and withholding funds toinsurers.

“The increase in the number of people without insurance happeneddespite a strong economy and growth in employer-sponsoredcoverage,” said Mona Shah of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.“Hundreds of thousands of people losing their health insuranceshould be a wake-up call for health care leaders and policymakersto redouble efforts to ensure that everyone has access to quality,affordable care.”

Read more: 

• Millennials’ uninsured rate soars
• Decline in subsidized ACA enrollees driving upuninsured rate
• Rate of uninsured children rises to 5percent