Net Gain of 9.3 Million American Adults with Health Insurance Coverage

By Claire Thayer, April 18, 2014

While the big news this week focused on the success of President Obama and the ACA enrolling 8 million Americans for health insurance through the federal marketplace, a new study from RAND estimates that there was actually a net gain of 9.3 million in the number of American adults with health insurance coverage from September 2013 to mid-March 2014.

The RAND survey, “drawn from a small but nationally representative sample, indicates that this significant uptick in insurance coverage has come not only from enrollment in the new marketplaces established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but also from new enrollment in employer coverage and Medicaid.”

A summary of the new RAND report is available for free here, with highlights below:

• Of the 40.7 million who were uninsured in 2013, 14.5 million gained coverage, but 5.2 million of the insured lost coverage, for a net gain in coverage of approximately 9.3 million. This represents a drop in the share of the population that is uninsured from 20.5 percent to 15.8 percent.
• The 9.3 million person increase in insurance is driven not only by enrollment in marketplace plans, but also by gains in employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) and Medicaid.
• Enrollment in ESI increased by 8.2 million.
• Medicaid enrollment increased by 5.9 million. New enrollees are primarily drawn from those who were uninsured in 2013, or those who had “other” forms of insurance, including Medicare, retiree health insurance, and other government plans.
• According to our estimates, 3.9 million were covered through the state and federal marketplaces as of mid-March 2014. This figure does not fully capture the enrollment surge that occurred in late March.
• Among the 7.8 million people who were enrolled in off-marketplace individual market plans in early 2014, 7.3 million were previously insured; 5.4 million were previously insured through an individual market plan.

The complete RAND study is available for download at no charge here.

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