MNsure, ACA contribute to historic percentage of residents with health insurance

Say what you will about Obamacare. Note that it has had incredible technical issues, as with the still-problematic MNsure exchange web site. Concede that the ACA has not solved the problem of making health insurance truly affordable for all people. Observe that for many businesses, compliance with ACA requirements is confusing, difficult, and expensive.

But a new report from the Minnesota Department of Health confirms what other polls and reports have found: the ACA is succeeding in helping more Americans find health insurance coverage. A CDC report last summer found that the rate of uninsurance in the U.S. had hit single-digits for the first time ever. The MDH/University of Minnesota report finds that the percentage of Minnesotans without coverage is now at a record low. "Minnesota cut its uninsured rate nearly in half between 2013 and 2015, and the rate of Minnesotans without health insurance has now reached an all-time low," the report found. That number, the percentage of Minnesotans without health insurance, now stands at 4.3 percent.

Obamacare can't take all the credit for the low rates of uninsurance. An improving economy also leads to higher rates of insured people. But for those who aren't benefitting from the better economy, and for many who are, the ACA has provided options that they would not have had otherwise.

I write about the problems of the ACA all the time. There are plenty. But its number-one goal, as I understand it, is to insure more Americans. This latest report confirms that it is continuing to achieve that goal.

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Non-related photo of the day--Model A Fords line up at Nokomis Community Center in Minneapolis, prior to their Leap Year Drive. 2-29-16. I suspect the one on skis will sit out the drive.