Uninsured rate at 8.8 percent; high-deductible plans on the rise

The latest National Health Interview Survey figures on health coverage show the number of people without health insurance fell to a new low through the first nine months of 2016.

The survey results said 28.2 million people, or 8.8 percent of Americans, were uninsured in that period. That’s a 0.3 percentage point drop from the same time frame in 2015. The figures did tick up from the report covering the first quarter of 2016, when the rate fell to 8.6 percent.

Since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law in 2010, the number of uninsured people has decreased by 20.4 million.

Among adults aged 18 to 64, the uninsured rate was 12.3 percent. Among children, it was 5 percent. For both groups, private insurance was the most common, covering 69 percent in the 18 to 64 range and 53.5 percent of those under 18.

While coverage gains made since the ACA was passed have leveled off, the report did mention a “significant” drop in the number of adults who were uninsured for more than a year. In 2015, 9.6 percent of adults reported lacking insurance for more than a year, but in 2016, that number dropped to 7.6 percent.

With the gains in coverage have come changes in the kinds of plans patients are using. High-deductible health plans continue to become more prevalent, with 39.1 percent of people under the age of 65 with private insurance enrolled in one, up from 36.7 percent in 2015 and having steadily increased from its 2010 level of 25.3 percent.

Location also matters. As in past surveys, the uninsured rates were higher in states which opted out of the ACA’s Medicaid expansion (17.5 percent for those aged 18-64) than in expansion states (9.3 percent). It’s also higher in the states which rely on the federal insurance marketplace (15.5 percent) than in partnership states (8.9 percent) or states with their own exchanges (8.6 percent).