Delaney: Report Showing Drop in Uninsured Rate Encouraging, Focus on Making Affordable Care Act Work Must Continue

Press Release

A new report by Gallup shows that the U.S. uninsured rate among adults has fallen to 15.9%, the lowest level since 2008. According to Gallup, "the uninsured rate for almost every major demographic group has dropped in 2014 so far." Gallup also concludes, "With the open enrollment period scheduled to close on March 31, the uninsured rate in the U.S. will likely continue to fall."

For more information on the Gallup report, click here.

Congressman John K. Delaney (MD-6) releases the following statement:

"As a former CEO, I believe that our evaluation of policies should be data-driven, and the latest date on health insurance in America is extremely encouraging. The bottom line is that, according to an independent and non-partisan source, millions of people have the health care coverage that they lacked last year. The Gallup study should be welcome news for all of us, on whichever side of the aisle we sit. I don't think you can read a report that says more Americans have health care and have anything other than a positive reaction.

"When Healthcare.gov launched and didn't work, the President took swift action to address the problem. He swallowed his pride and put the right people in place with a singular goal in mind: fix it. I wish that a similar approach was taken in my home state of Maryland, where we continue to lag behind, saddled with one of the worst exchanges in the country.

"The Affordable Care Act has two core goals: expanding health care coverage and lowering overall health care cost inflation. There's mounting evidence that we're making substantial progress towards both goals. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported in January that public spending on health care grew at just 1.1% over the last two years, the lowest increase in the last 53 years.

"The law isn't perfect and I've supported Republican and Democratic efforts to improve the Affordable Care Act, but on balance, we're moving in the right direction. The important thing is to ground every evaluation and action in facts, not ideology. Congress should work together on real reforms and adjustments and cease grandstanding on such an important issue."

Last year, Congressman John K. Delaney encouraged President Obama to tackle the botched rollout of healthcare.gov like a CEO. Additionally, Delaney voted to repeal the Medical Device Tax component of the Affordable Care Act and voted to delay the employer mandate. This month, Delaney was an original cosponsor of two bills to reduce Affordable Care Act costs for small businesses.

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