The increase came from enrollment in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act marketplaces, Medicaid and employer-based health insurance. Of those who were previously uninsured but gained insurance by mid-March, 7.2 million gained employer-based insurance, 3.6 million signed up for Medicaid and 1.4 million enrolled in health plans through the PPACA exchanges, according to the survey. A total of 14.5 million uninsured people gained coverage, although 5.2 million of the insured lost their health insurance.
Overall, that represents a drop in the uninsured population from 20.5 percent to 15.8 percent. Earlier this week, Gallup reported the U.S. uninsured rate fell to 15.6 percent in the first three months of this year, the lowest level reported since 2008.
Additionally, RAND estimated only about one-third of new marketplace enrollees were previously uninsured. The survey estimates 3.9 million people were covered through the state-based and federal exchanges as of mid-March.
That estimate doesn’t account for the surge in enrollment that occurred before the end of the open enrollment period on March 31. Last week, President Barack Obama announced the health insurance exchanges had enrolled 7.1 million people. However, people who have signed up for health plans won’t technically have coverage until they pay their first premiums, and it isn’t known yet how many of the enrollees were previously uninsured.
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