STATE BY STATE
A look at the percentage of people without health insurance in each state in 2013 and midyear 2014:
State % uninsured 2013 % uninsured midyear 2014 change in uninsured (percentage points)
Alabama 17.7 15.1 -2.6
Alaska 18.9 16.2 -2.7
Arizona 20.4 17.2 -3.2
Arkansas 22.5 12.4 -10.1
California 21.6 16.3 -5.3
Colorado 17.0 11.0 -6.0
Connecticut 12.3 7.4 -4.9
Delaware 10.5 3.3 -7.2
Florida 22.1 18.9 -3.2
Georgia 21.4 20.2 -1.2
Idaho 19.9 16.6 -3.3
Illinois 15.5 12.3 -3.2
Indiana 15.3 15.0 -0.3
Iowa 9.7 10.3 0.6
Kansas 12.5 17.6 5.1
Kentucky 20.4 11.9 -8.5
Louisiana 21.7 18.4 -3.3
Maine 16.1 13.3 -2.8
Maryland 12.9 8.4 -4.5
Michigan 12.5 11.9 -0.6
Minnesota 9.5 8.8 -0.7
Mississippi 22.4 20.6 -1.8
Missouri 15.2 15.1 -0.1
Montana 20.7 17.9 -2.8
Nebraska 14.5 13.4 -1.1
Nevada 20.0 16.0 -4.0
New Hampshire 13.8 12.4 -1.4
New Jersey 14.9 11.8 -3.1
New Mexico 20.2 15.2 -5.0
New York 12.6 10.3 -2.3
North Carolina 20.4 16.7 -3.7
North Dakota 15.0 13.0 -2.0
Ohio 13.9 11.5 -2.4
Oklahoma 21.4 17.5 -3.9
Oregon 19.4 14.0 -5.4
Pennsylvania 11.0 10.1 -0.9
Rhode Island 13.3 9.3 -4.0
South Carolina 18.7 16.8 -1.9
South Dakota 14.0 11.3 -2.7
Tennessee 16.8 14.4 -2.4
Texas 27.0 24.0 -3.0
Utah 15.6 15.6 0.0
Vermont 8.9 8.5 -0.4
Virginia 13.3 13.4 0.1
Washington 16.8 10.7 -6.1
West Virginia 17.6 11.9 -5.7
Wisconsin 11.7 9.6 -2.1
Wyoming 16.6 12.8 -3.8
Source: Gallup
States that fully embraced the coverage expansion under President Barack Obama’s health care law are experiencing a more significant drop in the number of uninsured residents than states whose leaders still object to so-called “Obamacare,” according to a major new survey released Tuesday,.
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index found an overall drop of 4 percentage points in the share of uninsured residents for states accepting the law’s core coverage provisions. Those are states that expanded their Medicaid programs and also built or took an active role managing new online insurance markets.
The drop was about half that level — 2.2 percentage points — in states that took neither of those steps, or just one of them.
“Those states that implement the law’s major mechanisms are seeing a significantly greater decline in their uninsured rates,” said Dan Witters, research director for the poll.
Leading the nation were two southern states where the law has found political support. Arkansas saw a drop of about 10 percentage points in its share of uninsured residents, from 22.5 percent in 2013 to 12.4 percent by the middle of this year. Kentucky experienced a drop of nearly 9 percentage points, from 20.4 percent of its residents uninsured in 2013 to 11.9 percent.
The survey found marked contrasts among some states that share a border but have taken different paths on the health care law:
• Arkansas had the 10-point decline in its uninsured rate, but the drop in Tennessee was just 2.4 percentage points.
• The uninsured rate in West Virginia fell 5.7 points after the state agreed to Medicaid expansion, but there was no change for neighboring Virginia, where the Republican-led legislature has blocked expansion.
• Colorado’s uninsured rated dropped 6 percentage points with Medicaid expansion and a state-run exchange, while Utah’s didn’t budge. That state has a federally-run exchange and is still weighing whether to expand Medicaid.
It’s unclear if emerging disparities among neighboring states will start to shift the hardened lines in the political debate over health care. Americans remain divided over Obama’s signature program, with opponents clearly outnumbering supporters.
Robert Blendon, a public opinion analyst at the Harvard School of Public Health, said immediate shifts are unlikely. Negative views about the law are driven by people who already have insurance and worry that the coverage expansion will raise their premiums or compromise the quality of care they receive, he said.
“Rightly or wrongly, people who are not directly aided by it are worried,” Blendon said.
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