INSTITUTE INDEX: Uninsured rates are climbing again in the South

Percent of U.S. adults who were uninsured in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to a new survey by Gallup: 13.7

The highest the percent uninsured rate for U.S. adults reached before Congress passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2014: 18

Low point the uninsured rate reached in 2016, after the ACA was in full effect: 10.9

With conservative political attacks chipping away at the ACA, net increase in the number of uninsured adults since then: about 7 million

Rank of the South among U.S. regions that have historically had the highest rates of uninsured adults: 1

Current percent uninsured rate for adults in the South, according to Gallup: 19.6

Percentage-point increase that represents over the lowest levels achieved under full ACA implementation: 3.8

Of the 10 states that saw the greatest post-ACA reduction in their uninsured rates, number that had expanded Medicaid under the ACA to cover more working poor: 10

Number of states that, along with the District of Columbia, have expanded Medicaid under the law: 36

Number of the Medicaid expansion states that are in the South: 5*

Of the six states that reported the greatest decline in uninsured residents after ACA took effect, number in the South: 3**

Month in which a conservative federal judge in Texas, in a case brought by 19 Republican state attorneys general, ruled the ACA unconstitutional because Congress ended the law's individual mandate requiring everyone to either purchase insurance or pay a tax penalty, though the ACA remains in effect for now pending appeal: 12/2018

Date on which a coalition of 16 states with Democratic attorneys general, along with the District of Columbia, appealed the ruling: 1/3/2019

Number of those Democratic attorneys general who represent Southern states: 3***

* Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Virginia, and West Virginia.
** Arkansas, Kentucky, and West Virginia.
*** Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia.

(Click on figure to go to source.)