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Health care law adds 16.4M to insurance rolls, agency says

 
Published March 17, 2015

The Obama administration said Monday that 16.4 million uninsured people had gained health coverage since major provisions of the Affordable Care Act began to take effect in 2010, driving the largest reduction in the number of uninsured in about 40 years.

Since the first open enrollment period began in October 2013, the officials said, the proportion of adults lacking insurance has dropped to 13.2 percent, from 20.3 percent.

Health and Human services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said the data revealed "the largest reduction in the uninsured in four decades." Many people gained coverage after the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.

White House officials said the figures disprove the charges leveled by some Republicans opposed to the law, including governors who have declined to expand their Medicaid programs.

"We've seen tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars being spent by the president's political opponents to distort the facts about the true impact of the Affordable Care Act," Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said Monday. "We're very pleased about the impact that this has had in expanding coverage for more Americans."

Polls show that public opinion on the health care law is still deeply divided, and its future could be an issue in next year's elections.

Officials said they were publishing the figures to demonstrate its progress on the fifth anniversary of the law, which was signed by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010.

Since October 2013, the officials said, 14.1 million uninsured people 18 to 64 have gained insurance. In addition, they said, 2.3 million young adults were covered from 2010 to October 2013 because they were allowed to remain on their parents' health plans until age 26 under a provision of the law.