February 11, 2016

Uninsured Rate Ticks Up a Bit at End of 2015

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Every quarter I take a look at the CDC’s survey of the uninsured to see how Obamacare is doing. So far it’s doing pretty well. However, the CDC data is always six months behind, and a few days ago I noticed that Gallup’s more timely survey showed an increase in the uninsured rate over the last two quarters of 2015. I figured I’d have to wait another month to see if the CDC confirmed this, but their latest data came out earlier than I expected. Sure enough, in the third quarter they show a small increase in the uninsured.

Unfortunately, I don’t have anything trenchant to say about this. The data is a little noisy, and this might be nothing more than the usual bouncing around. Or it might represent a normal uptick at the end of the year, as people lose insurance before the new signup period. It’s probably not really possible to say until we have quite a bit more data. And it’s worth noting that the uninsured rate is still more than a percentage point below the original CBO projection.

But the raw data is the raw data. Good or bad, it’s here for everyone to noodle over.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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