The share of Kansans and Missourians without health insurance continues to drop. Heartland Health Monitor’s Dan Margolies (MAR-go-lees) has more.
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The rate of uninsured Kansans now stands at 11.3 percent, compared with 12.5 percent in 2013, according to a Gallup survey published Monday. In Missouri, the rate fell to 11.4 percent from 15.2 percent. The declines come despite the failure of both states to expand Medicaid or to set up their own health insurance marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act. The act went into effect at the beginning of 2014.
“Looking at the percentage of folks that are uninsured is a great measure to see how well it’s doing. And clearly it’s carrying out its primary purpose.”
That’s Sheldon Weisgrau of the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved. Weisgrau says that had Missouri and Kansas expanded Medicaid, the uninsured rates in both states would have been lower still. Dan Margolies, Heartland Health Monitor.