The percentage of uninsured veterans dropped by almost 40% in the first 2 years after the Affordable Care Act’s major coverage provisions were implemented, according to a report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute.
In 2015, 5.9% of the almost 9.4 million veterans aged 19-64 years were uninsured, down from 9.6% in 2013 – the statistically significant difference of 3.8 percentage points representing a relative decline of 38.5%. The difference was even greater for veterans living in the states that had expanded Medicaid by mid-2015, who saw their uninsured rate fall from 9% to 4.8%, compared with those in states that had not, whose uninsured rate declined from 10.3% to 7.1%, the report’s authors said.
All of the other subgroups examined also had significant declines in uninsured rates during the study period. The largest were seen in veterans who were at or below 138% of the federal poverty level (from 21.6% to 12.2%) and those who were unemployed (from 27.5% to 18.6%). Uninsured rates for veterans’ spouses declined from 9.2% in 2013 to 5.5% in 2015, and rates for their children went from 4.5% to 2.9%, the investigators said.
“These findings suggest that repeal of the ACA or particular components of the ACA (such as the Medicaid expansion) could reverse these coverage gains, increasing the number of veterans without health insurance coverage,” they wrote.
Of those currently uninsured, the report notes that “one-quarter are eligible for Medicaid but not enrolled, and … a number of uninsured veterans may qualify for VA care.” One option from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Veterans Choice Program, was just extended beyond its expiration in August, ensuring that veterans will “continue to have access to care through local community providers [and] will not have to wait weeks or months, or drive long distances, to get the care they need,” Patrice A. Harris, MD, chair of the American Medical Association’s Board of Trustees, said in a statement.
The study was conducted by the Urban Institute with funding by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Data for the analysis came from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health Interview Survey.
