FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

 Uninsured Rate Declines

 (Washington, D.C.) – Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families Co-Director Joan Alker issued the following statement in response to the release of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States report:

“The U.S. Census data released today underscore the important contribution the new health reform law has already made in addressing the need for stable, secure health insurance coverage. While poverty remained high, the number of uninsured people actually declined by 1.4 million. This is the first such decline since 2007.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) deserves credit for this success. By allowing young adults the opportunity to get coverage through their parents’ plans, the ACA helped reduce the uninsurance rate.  In fact, 540,000 more young adults aged 19-25 were covered in 2011 as compared to 2010.

Another less publicized protection in the law is also hard at work keeping children insured. The maintenance-of-effort provisions, which require states to maintain eligibility levels in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, have helped keep children’s coverage stable. The uninsured rate for children remained essentially unchanged at 9.4% in 2011.”

Media Contact: Elisabeth Burak, ewb27@georgetown.edu or 202-213-1558.