Nationwide, the rate of those without health insurance dropped 3.5 percentage points during 2014, from 17.3% to 13.8%, according to the Gallup Poll. That is the lowest annualized rate Gallup has reported in the seven years it has tracked health insurance coverage.
No state reported a statistically significant increase in the percentage of uninsured in 2014 compared with 2013.
Arkansas and Kentucky reported the sharpest reductions since the Affordable Care Act’s requirement to have insurance took effect at the beginning 2014. Oregon, Washington, and West Virginia round out the top five.
Of the 11 states with the greatest reductions in the percentage uninsureds, 10 expanded Medicaid and established a state-based marketplace exchange or state-federal partnership. Montana, which is tied for 10th, is the only exception.
The uninsured rate in states that expanded Medicaid and set up their own state exchanges or partnerships in the health insurance marketplace declined significantly more in 2014 than in states that did not take these steps, Gallup found.
The uninsured rate declined 4.8 points in the 21 states that implemented both these measures, compared with a 2.7-point drop across the 29 states that have implemented only one or neither of these actions.
Overall, Massachusetts has the lowest uninsured rate in the nation for the seventh consecutive year, at 4.6%, followed by 6.0% uninsured Connecticut and Hawaii. The Massachusetts plan is based on the “Romneycare” model, from which certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act were drawn.
Also for the seventh consecutive year, Texas has the highest uninsured rate at 24.4%, although this is lower than the 27.0% reported in 2013 and is the lowest rate measured to date for Texas.