Only 9.2% of Americans are without health insurance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. This is the lowest rate since the CDC began keeping records in 1972.
The agency said the number of Americans without health insurance declined by 7 million people over the last 12 months, but 29 million Americans still lack health coverage. Since 2013, when the Affordable Care Act became effective, the number of uninsured Americans has declined by 15.8 million, according to the CDC.
Analysts noted that some of the increase is due to improving economic conditions, which have put more people back to work and thus covered by company health plans.
However, the largest declines in uninsured rates were among poor or near-poor adults, suggesting that the ACA was responsible for most of the gains in coverage. Both groups had uninsured rates near 50% percent in 2010, declining to 28% among poor adults and 23.8% among near-poor adults currently.
Among young adults between the ages of 19 and 25, the uninsured rate is 16.6%, well above the national average but still lower than in past years. The uninsured rate for white Americans was 7.5%, while 21.2% of Hispanics and 12% of blacks lacked coverage.