By Greg Sargent August 5 at 3:58 PM
Gallup finds that three of the largest drops in the rate of the uninsured just happened to take place in states with the most hard-fought Senate races:
Arkansas and Kentucky lead all other states in the sharpest reductions in their uninsured rate among adult residents since the healthcare law?s requirement to have insurance took effect at the beginning of the year. Delaware, Washington, and Colorado round out the top five. All 10 states that report the largest declines in uninsured rates expanded Medicaid and established a state-based marketplace exchange or state-federal partnership.
In Arkansas, the rate of uninsured dropped from 22.5 percent in 2013 to 12.4 percent now ? a change of over 10 percentage points.
In Kentucky, it dropped from 20.4 percent to 11.9 percent ? a change of over eight percentage points.
In Colorado, it dropped from 17 percent to 11 percent ? a change of six percentage points.
The Kentucky example is particularly interesting. Remember, Mitch McConnell still regards the the law that created this drop in the uninsured among his own constituents as a ?disaster.? Yet hundreds of thousands have signed up for coverage on the Kentucky exchange. Interestingly, as Joe Sonka has documented, the biggest drops in uninsured have occurred in eastern Kentucky ? which is to say anti-Obama coal country, a.k.a., Mitch McConnell country.
Despite all this, Alison Lundergan Grimes continues to avoid engagement on Obamacare. I get the arguments in favor of that strategy. Grimes wants to avoid getting drawn into Washington arguments that could sully what the campaign sees as her key advantage in this race: The contrast between Grimes? newcomer status and McConnell?s decades inside the Beltway. But it really is too bad that the Affordable Care Act ? or, at least the word ?Obamacare,? anyway ? remains so toxic on some turf that Dems can?t embrace this steep drop in uninsured, in one of the most unhealthy regions in the country, as a major policy success.
Gallup finds that three of the largest drops in the rate of the uninsured just happened to take place in states with the most hard-fought Senate races:
Arkansas and Kentucky lead all other states in the sharpest reductions in their uninsured rate among adult residents since the healthcare law?s requirement to have insurance took effect at the beginning of the year. Delaware, Washington, and Colorado round out the top five. All 10 states that report the largest declines in uninsured rates expanded Medicaid and established a state-based marketplace exchange or state-federal partnership.
In Arkansas, the rate of uninsured dropped from 22.5 percent in 2013 to 12.4 percent now ? a change of over 10 percentage points.
In Kentucky, it dropped from 20.4 percent to 11.9 percent ? a change of over eight percentage points.
In Colorado, it dropped from 17 percent to 11 percent ? a change of six percentage points.
The Kentucky example is particularly interesting. Remember, Mitch McConnell still regards the the law that created this drop in the uninsured among his own constituents as a ?disaster.? Yet hundreds of thousands have signed up for coverage on the Kentucky exchange. Interestingly, as Joe Sonka has documented, the biggest drops in uninsured have occurred in eastern Kentucky ? which is to say anti-Obama coal country, a.k.a., Mitch McConnell country.
Despite all this, Alison Lundergan Grimes continues to avoid engagement on Obamacare. I get the arguments in favor of that strategy. Grimes wants to avoid getting drawn into Washington arguments that could sully what the campaign sees as her key advantage in this race: The contrast between Grimes? newcomer status and McConnell?s decades inside the Beltway. But it really is too bad that the Affordable Care Act ? or, at least the word ?Obamacare,? anyway ? remains so toxic on some turf that Dems can?t embrace this steep drop in uninsured, in one of the most unhealthy regions in the country, as a major policy success.
