Report: California Uninsured Rate Fell by as Much as 40% Under ACA

California's uninsured rate fell by as much as 40% in 2014, in large part because of expanded coverage under the Affordable Care Act, according to a fact sheet by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, Payers & Providers reports.

Details of Fact Sheet

According to Payers & Providers, the report detailed the "unstable" situation in California before the ACA and how the health law has balanced some of the disparities in health coverage.

The fact sheet included information from the 2013 California Health Interview Survey, but did not account for the latest enrollment numbers.

Findings

According to the fact sheet, about 6.6 million Californians in 2013 were uninsured, with 4.1 million lacking coverage for at least a full year.

Meanwhile, the fact sheet showed that the number of uninsured residents increased from 6.4 million in 2007 to 7.1 million in 2009, during the economic recession.

Employer-sponsored coverage fell from a rate of 52.1% in 2009 to 49.5% in 2012. By 2013, the rate had increased slightly to 50.5%.

Shana Alex Charles, director of the UCLA Center Health Policy Research's health insurance studies program, said that "these numbers show ... how dire the situation was prior to [the ACA's] implementation."

However, under the ACA, about 1.5 million residents by April 2014 had newly enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program. An additional 1.2 million individuals enrolled in coverage through Covered California, of whom 650,000 were previously uninsured.

These numbers suggest a 40% reduction of the state's uninsured rate, according to Payers & Providers (Shinkman, Payers & Providers, 2/25).