Obama-care Reduces Uninsured Rates among Americans: Gallup Poll

The rate of uninsured Americans dropped from 17.1 to 15.9 percent after Obama's Affordable Care Act (ACA) came into effect, according to a survey data.

 Since 2008, the Gallup and Healthways' Well -Being Index  has been tracing enrollment rates in the health insurance plans among different ethnic groups of the U.S population. The results of the 2014's first quarter survey polls of more than 28,000 Americans aged 18 and above, revealed a decrease in the total number of uninsured citizens. The individual readings for the months January and February were 16.2 and 15.6 percent, respectively.

 The experts said in the report, "This drop could be a result of the ACA, which aims to provide healthcare coverage to more Americans through multiple provisions, including federal and state healthcare marketplaces where Americans can purchase health insurance coverage at competitive rates."

The results from 2013's third quarter polls showed highest rates of 18 percent uninsured population that decreased since the fourth quarter.  The percentage of uninsured Americans with an average income of $36,000 reduced by 2.8 percent and the total number of uninsured African-Americans fell by 2.6 percent. Hispanics showed an uninsured rate of 37.9 percent.

According to the NBC reports, the new health-care plan focuses attention on Spanish-speaking communities that mainly comprise of youths without stable jobs and insurance. But the insurance enrollment website in Spanish-language slowed down the registration process due to technical problems. President Obama addressed the community through a Spanish- television channel to register for healthcare, also known as 'Obama care'.  

 More than 4 million people have already enrolled for the ACA plan, according to the Gallup-Heathways reports. The healthcare insurance will be available now through multiple channels at competitive rates including federal and state plans. The new act has made insurance compulsory for all young adults aged between 26 and 34 and 40 percent of the new insurance buyers need to be young adults for it to be successful.

The health-care initiative also announced renewal of all insurance plans for up to three years even if they do not adhere to the rules of the ACA plans before March 31.

The survey was done via telephone on a  random sample of 28,396 adults, aged 18 and above, from across the  50 states and the District of Columbia.