Kentucky leads nation in largest drop in uninsured rate under Affordable Care Act

Rate dropped 12.6% since 2013

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 9, 2017) — Kentucky has had the nation’s largest drop in number of uninsured since the Affordable Care Act took effect in 2013, according to Gallup.

The state’s uninsured rate dropped from 20.4 percent in 2013 to 7.8 percent in 2016, a decline of 12.6 percent. Arkansas was second, 12.3 percent, followed by West Virginia (11.5), New Mexico (11.2), California (11.1) and Oregon (10.3).

The top 10 states with the greatest reductions in their uninsured rates have expanded Medicaid as part of their implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Nationwide, the uninsured rate fell to 10.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, from 17.3 percent in 2013.

Data is from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which is based on Americans’ answers to the question, “Do you have health insurance coverage?” State-level data is based on daily surveys conducted from January through December 2016 and include state-level sample sizes ranging from 465 randomly selected adult residents in Delaware to more than 17,000 in California. Data for 2013 was also collected over a 12-month period and are based on similar sample sizes for each state.