Oh yeah...one more thing: New ASPE report finds U.S. uninsured rate has fallen to 8.9%!

In the midst of all the data & stats from this morning's CMS report touting the most successful ACA Open Enrollment Period ever, I almost forgot another important related report which the Biden Administration is promoting as well:

This week, HHS’s office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) is also releasing a report analyzing new survey data that showed the uninsured rate fell in 2021 after the American Rescue Plan and outreach efforts took effect. According to the report, the uninsured rate for U.S. population was 8.9% for the third quarter of 2021 (July – September 2021), down from 10.3% for the last quarter of 2020 – corresponding to roughly 4.6 million more people with coverage over that time period. Coverage gains occurred among both children and working age adults, with the largest coverage gains for those with incomes under 200% of the poverty level (roughly $27,000 for a single adult or $56,000 for a family of four).

During the 2022 OEP, the Biden-Harris Administration worked tirelessly to ensure health equity by increasing outreach to communities that have historically been uninsured or underinsured. Through CMS, HHS revamped the Champions for Coverage program and quadrupled the number of Navigators to 1,500 certified Navigators ready to help consumers enroll, and held over 1,800 outreach and education events at accessible areas—such as local libraries, vaccination clinics, food drives, county fairs, and job fairs.

The success of the Biden-Harris Administration’s first OEP affirms the Administration’s commitment to making health care affordable and accessible for consumers and builds on the momentum of the 2021 Special Enrollment Period (SEP). Since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration, through the 2021 SEP and the 2022 OEP, 5.8 million people across the country newly gained access to affordable health care coverage subsidized by the President’s American Rescue Plan. That includes 2.8 million during the 2021 SEP and 3 million during the 2022 OEP.

From the report itself:

Newly available evidence shows that the uninsured rate in the fall of 2021 fell to levels even lower than before the pandemic.

Rose C. Chu, Aiden Lee, Christie Peters, and Benjamin D. Sommers

KEY POINTS

• The most recent National Health Interview Survey shows that the uninsured rate for the U.S. population was 8.9 percent for Q3 2021 (July – September 2021), down from 10.3 percent for Q4 2020.

• Individuals with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level experienced the largest decrease.

• The uninsured rate for children decreased by 2.2 percentage points and for working-age adults (18-64) decreased by 1.5 percentage points.

• Coverage gains were somewhat larger for private coverage than public coverage.

• These data suggest that policies including the American Rescue Plan, the 2021 Marketplace Special Enrollment Period, and state Medicaid expansions, in addition to the economic recovery, have helped Americans gain insurance coverage during the COVID-19 public health crisis.

• Additional analysis and data will be needed to explore changes in health coverage for specific populations and geographical regions, as well as assessing changes in different sources of coverage.