For the first time in the last decade, the rate of private health insurance coverage for all Americans did not decrease.
New U.S. Census data released this week showed that the number of people with health coverage increased from 256.6 million in 2010 to 260.2 million in 2011.
In Connecticut, the number of uninsured residents dropped to 303,000 in 2011 from 397,000 in 2010, according to CTNewsJunkie.com.
This means that 91.4 percent of state residents are covered, while 8.6 percent are not.
Citing figures from HealthCare.gov, the news website noted that the drop in uninsured residents can be attributed largely to the federal Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare as it’s known among the public.
In Connecticut, 23,000 young adults under the age of 26 were allowed to remain on their parents’ insurance plans, the federal government reported.
But, as CTNewsJunkie also reported, it’s unclear whether the 2011 figures are statistically significant because Connecticut enacted in 2008 its own legislation allowing residents under the age of 26 to remain on their parents’ plans.
Read more about the U.S. Census figures here.
Here are some other highlights the federal government provided on the national Census data:
- The percentage of people with health insurance nationally rose from 83.7 percent in 2010 to 84.3 percent in 2011.
- The percentage covered by employment-based health insurance in 2011 was not statistically different from 2010, at 55.1 percent.
- The percentage of people covered by government health insurance increased from 31.2 percent to 32.2 percent. The percentage covered by Medicaid increased from 15.8 percent in 2010 to 16.5 percent in 2011. The percentage covered by Medicare also rose over the period, from 14.6 percent to 15.2 percent. The percentage covered by Medicaid in 2011 was higher than the percentage covered by Medicare.
- In 2011, 9.7 percent of children under 19 (7.6 million) were without health insurance. Neither estimate is significantly different from the corresponding 2010 estimate. The uninsured rate also remained statistically unchanged for those age 26 to 34 and people age 45 to 64. It declined, however, for people age 19 to 25, age 35 to 44 and those age 65 and older.
- The uninsured rate for children in poverty (13.8 percent) was higher than the rate for all children (9.4 percent).
- In 2011, the uninsured rates decreased as household income increased from 25.4 percent for those in households with annual income less than $25,000 to 7.8 percent in households with income of $75,000 or more.
