The number of uninsured is creeping up as the deadline for the introduction of the most important part of President Barack Obama’s controversial healthcare measure gets closer, according to a new Gallup poll.
The figure, which stood at 14.9 percent in 2008, the last year of President George W. Bush’s presidency, jumped to 16.2 percent within months of Obama’s moving into the White House, then went up to16.4 percent in 2010 and now stands at 16.8 percent, the
Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index shows.
Under Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which detractors nicknamed Obamacare, all Americans must buy health insurance by 2014. Those earning less than four times poverty level wages will be eligible for a federal government subsidy.
According to the poll, residents in traditional red Republican states are less likely to have health insurance than those who live under Democratic control. Texas is the only state where more than 1 in 4 is uninsured. Its figure of 27.2 percent is followed by Mississippi at 24.5 percent, Alaska at 23.5, Florida at 22.6, and Oklahoma at 22.5.
At the other end of the spectrum, only 5.3 percent are uninsured in Massachusetts. Next best is Vermont at 9.2, Minnesota at 9.4, Connecticut at 10.3, and Hawaii at 10.4.
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