States showing most progress have expanded Medicaid eligibility to more low-income adults
by Jim McLean, KHI News Service
Both Kansas and Missouri are underperforming when it comes to reducing the number of uninsured within their borders.
From 2013 to 2014, all 50 states recorded statistically significant reductions in their uninsured rates mostly because of the implementation of key provisions of the Affordable Care Act, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
But most states saw bigger reductions than those posted in Kansas and Missouri.
The drop in Missouri’s rate, from 13 percent to 11.7 percent, represents an overall reduction of only 10 percent, according to an analysis done by the National Academy for State Health Policy. That bested only Alaska’s 7 percent reduction.
Kansas performed better, dropping its rate from 12.3 percent to 10.2 percent, an overall reduction of 17 percent. But it also lagged far behind the best performing states.
Kentucky led the nation, dropping its uninsured rate a whopping 41 percent, followed by West Virginia at 39 percent and Rhode Island at 36 percent. Oregon and Washington rounded out the top five with reductions of 34 percent each.
All of the top five performing states expanded their Medicaid programs to cover non-disabled adults earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level — annually $16,105 for an individual and $32,913 for a family of four. In addition, three of the five — Kentucky, Oregon and Washington — established their own online health insurance marketplaces.
“A review of the uninsured rates across all 50 states shows that those states that opted to expand Medicaid and/or ran their own marketplace (or worked with the federal government on marketplace planning) saw the greatest decreases in the uninsured,” the NASHP analysis said.
Neither Kansas nor Missouri expanded Medicaid or established their own marketplaces.
Still, the drop in Kansas’ rate meant that at least 57,000 fewer Kansans under age 65 were uninsured in 2014 compared to 2013, according to an analysis done by the Kansas Health Institute, the parent organization of the editorially independent KHI News Service.
Nationally, the number of uninsured Americans dropped by approximately 8.8 million.
“There has been a lot of speculation about the success of the ACA,” said Dr. Robert St. Peter, KHI’s president and CEO. “The fact that the uninsured rate decreased significantly in every state in the country during the first full year of implementation suggests that it has been successful in at least one respect: It has reduced the number of uninsured Americans. However, now that more people are covered with insurance, it will be important to see how well that insurance protects them from financial hardship and helps them get the medical care they need.”
The nonprofit KHI News Service is an editorially independent initiative of the Kansas Health Institute and a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor reporting collaboration. All stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to KHI.org when a story is reposted online.
– See more at http://www.khi.org/news/article/kansas-and-missouri-lag-in-reducing-numbers-of-uninsured#sthash.uk4wVL5S.dpuf