Before COVID, the number of uninsured Americans grew by 2.3 million under Trump, analysis finds
During President Donald Trump’s first three years in office, 2.3 million people became uninsured, according to a Capital & Main analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data released Tuesday.
They include hundreds of thousands of people in battleground states such as Florida, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Ohio, as well as Michigan and Minnesota. The number of uninsured grew by nearly 1.6 million people in 13 states identified as swing states by The Cook Political Report.
During his 2016 campaign, Trump promised to repeal and replace Obamacare and, once elected, he vowed everyone would have health insurance.
Health care was a major issue in the 2018 midterm elections and could remain a salient one in the general election only seven weeks away. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to massive job losses in a country where 55% of health care coverage is tied to employment. One study estimated that 5.4 million American workers lost their health insurance between February and May.
Tuesday's data release makes clear that U.S. residents already were hemorrhaging health insurance even before COVID. By far, the largest growth in the number of uninsured was in Texas, where the count swelled by 689,000 between 2016 and 2019.
In Florida, the number of uninsured grew by 240,000 during Trump’s first three years. Ohio, North Carolina and Arizona saw the number of uninsured increase by more than 110,000. Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota all saw statistically significant increases in the numbers of uninsured. California, which is not a presidential battleground, also saw a 158,000 increase in the number of uninsured residents.
Across the country, uninsured rates grew by a statistically significant amount in 33 states between 2016 and 2019, while four states saw a statistically significant decline in the percentage of its residents lacking any form of health insurance.
The growth in the number of uninsured people came despite employment growing between 2016 and 2019. The increases since 2017 in the percentage of people lacking health insurance follow six straight years of decline that began in 2010 with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act under President Barack Obama.
The percentage of the country’s population who lack health insurance increased from 8.6% in 2016 to 9.2% in 2019, according to the annual American Community Survey, which was conducted during 2019.
Health care experts attribute the loss in health coverage to the Trump administration’s attack on Obamacare, including the repeal of the individual mandate that people have health coverage or pay a penalty.
In addition, the administration’s “public charge” rule that allows the government to deny green cards and visas to immigrants who have received public assistance, such as Medicaid, has likely prevented immigrants from gaining access to health insurance, according to an analysis published Tuesday by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Another barrier to access has been the administration’s cuts to outreach to people wishing to enroll in the ACA marketplace, according to CBPP experts.
The 35 states that have expanded Medicaid – a federally and state-funded insurance program for low-income families –have made the greatest progress in increasing health coverage, and are better situated to weather the COVID pandemic, the CBPP added.
Capital & Main is an award-winning publication that reports from California on economic, political and social issues. USA TODAY is co-publishing this piece.