As Adam Linker explained last week when he debunked the latest conservative mythology surrounding the Affordable Care Act, the law continues to succeed despite its imperfections and the endless, hysterical attacks of the President’s political opponents.
Today, there’s still more confirmation of this undeniable reality from Washington state. As The Olympian reported this morning, the state’s uninsured rate has been plummeting:
State insurance officials say fewer than 9 percent of Washington residents still don’t have health insurance.
That’s a significant improvement from numbers before the Affordable Care Act went into effect.
The state Office of the Insurance Commissioner counted 970,000 uninsured Washington residents last year. That number is now 600,000 or about 8.65 percent of the state population.
Agency spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis told The Olympian (http://is.gd/p2XsBG ) two factors are driving the improvement: enrollment in Medicaid and sign-ups for private insurance, but inside and outside of the new state health insurance exchange.
The insurance department reports the individual market has grown to more than 327,000 policies. That represents about 81,000 more insured people than before Oct. 1, when Washington’s Health Benefit Exchange opened.
The exchange also helped sign up nearly 350,000 people for free insurance through Medicaid.
Despite the many successes here, at last check, North Carolina’s uninsured rate remains significantly higher.
