Under Trump, Uninsured Rate Rises For First Time Since Obamacare Took Effect

President Donald Trump applauds members of the audience before speaking at the Heritage Foundation's annual President's Club meeting, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017 in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
President Donald Trump applauds members of the audience before speaking at the Heritage Foundation's annual President's Club meeting, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017 in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

A new Gallup survey released Friday shows a marked uptick in the number of Americans without health insurance since the Trump administration took office—a reversal after years of decline and a historic record low under the Obama administration.

Since the end of 2016, the survey found, the uninsured rate has climbed 1.4 percentage points, from 10.9 percent to 12.3 percent, with roughly 3.5 million more Americans uninsured. The current uninsured rate is the highest since the end of 2014.

 “Uncertainty about the healthcare law also may be driving the increase,” Gallup reported Friday, citing Congress’ repeated efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and uncertainty about the administration’s dedication to upholding the law.

The survey, based on interviews with more than 45,000 people, found that every age group except Medicare-eligible Americans older than 65 saw an increase in the percentage of the uninsured.

“The growth has been concentrated mostly among middle-aged Americans, racial minorities and lower-income Americans,” Gallup reported.

The biggest drop has been on the individual market, the sector most impacted by the Trump administration’s actions: from cutting outreach and education funding to cutting off cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers to rejecting state waivers.

Gallup noted that if Congress and the President do not pass and implement a bill introduced this week to fund and stabilize those markets, the number of uninsured Americans will continue to increase.

Latest DC

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for jtx jtx says:

    Well Trump will brag about this.

  2. Who says Drumpf is not being successful?

  3. Nah just blame the dems and call it fake news

  4. Avatar for tsp tsp says:

    “Uncertainty about the healthcare law also may be driving the increase,” Gallup reported Friday, citing Congress’ repeated efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and uncertainty about the administration’s dedication to upholding the law.

    Upholding the law is something that this administration is definitely NOT all about.

  5. He is just a monster, as are all those who support and enable him and his policies. Director Mueller, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you…

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

28 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for cabchi Avatar for paulw Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for josephebacon Avatar for sysprog Avatar for old_curmudgeon Avatar for tani Avatar for bluinmaine Avatar for sniffit Avatar for chuck_voellinger Avatar for docb Avatar for cd Avatar for tao Avatar for wordsonfire Avatar for mrf Avatar for zlohcuc Avatar for clauscph Avatar for tsp Avatar for jtx Avatar for ncgirl741 Avatar for demosthenes59 Avatar for ohcomeonnow Avatar for brissy

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: