By Karen Pallarito
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Jan. 15, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Although problems persist, more Americans had significantly less trouble getting and paying for needed medical care in 2014, as the health insurance expansions of the Affordable Care Act kicked in, a new survey suggests.
The number of working-age adults who said they didn't get the care they needed because of the cost dropped to 66 million in 2014 from 80 million in 2012 -- the first decline since 2003, according to The Commonwealth Fund's latest Biennial Health Insurance Survey.
At the same time, fewer adults -- 64 million in 2014 versus 75 million in 2012 -- reported medical bill problems, and that's the first decrease since 2005.
"This new report provides evidence that the Affordable Care Act's new subsidized options for people who lack insurance from employers are helping to reverse national trends in health care coverage and affordability," Commonwealth Fund President Dr. David Blumenthal said in a news conference with reporters Wednesday afternoon.
Uninsured rates tumbled to their lowest levels in more than a decade, the survey found. A total of 29 million working-age adults (16 percent of the population) were uninsured in 2014, down from 37 million (20 percent of the population) in 2010.
It is "the first statistically significant decline measured by the survey since it began in 2001," noted Sara Collins, vice president for health care coverage and access at The Commonwealth Fund, which publishes the nation's longest-running nonfederal survey of health insurance coverage.
The Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," broadened access to health coverage through Medicaid and private health insurance subsidies. Just 26 states and the District of Columbia expanded Medicaid in 2014, after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to opt out of that requirement.
Beginning in September 2010, the health reform law made it possible for young adults under the age of 26 to remain on their parents' health insurance plans.
The survey shows young adults realized the greatest gains in coverage of any age group. Among 19- to 34-year-olds, 19 percent were uninsured in 2014, down from 27 percent in 2010.
source : More Americans Getting Needed Health Care, Survey Shows
