As many as 29 million Americans still have no insurance coverage: Report

Despite the large number of individuals who gained insurance through the ACA, there still remains a significant part of the population without coverage

Insurance News

By Lyle Adriano

Despite the Affordable Care Act (ACA) helping as much as 20 million Americans secure health insurance coverage since it was signed in 2010—as told by President Obama during his address in Milwaukee—approximately 29 million individuals still do not have any coverage, reported HealthGrove.net.

The online health news outlet posits that one of the major reasons why a significant number of people—9% of the country’s population—still have no insurance is cost. Data gathered from ACASignups.net highly suggests that many uninsured cannot afford coverage, even after the ACA was enacted.

The report prepared by HealthGrove.net found that the uninsured group is largely comprised of three categories: people who haven’t signed up for insurance whether they qualify for tax credits or not, people who qualify for Medicaid but haven’t enrolled, as well as undocumented immigrants.

“Some don’t know they’re eligible for help,” said ACASignups web developer Charles Gaba.

Gaba added that some individuals are technically eligible for coverage, but are not due to the so-called “family glitch”—a loophole formed when households do not receive financial assistance to help shoulder marketplace insurance costs.

“For the rest, either the financial help is still not enough, or [insurance is] just too pricey without it,” he remarked.

About five million people are eligible for Medicaid but have not signed up. The data also discovered that another 13.5 million in the group are split between eligibility and ineligibility for tax credits.

Roughly 4.7 million people in the uninsured group are in the country illegally and do not qualify for Medicaid or even for subsidies that could help them purchase their own insurance.

Approximately 3 million of the uninsured group are children who qualify for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, but are not enrolled.

The report identified a fourth group representing 2.8 million individuals who remain uninsured since their states chose not to expand Medicaid coverage. Currently, 31 states have expanded their coverage to allow more low-income citizens to qualify for coverage.
 

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