By Rebecca Adams, CQ HealthBeat Associate Editor
June 11, 2014 -- Coverage under the health care law helped lower the number of Minnesotans who lack health benefits by 40.6 percent, University of Minnesota researchers said last week.
The number of people without insurance in Minnesota fell from 8.2 percent of the population on Sept. 30 to about 4.9 percent on May 1. That is a drop from 445,000 uninsured people to 264,500 people.
The state broadened Medicaid coverage for adults with incomes of up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Minnesota also operated its own marketplace, known as MNsure, under the health care law (PL 111-148, PL 111-152).
The study is the first known report to offer an independent measure of the decline in the number of uninsured people in a state since open enrollment started on Oct. 1.
- Minnesota report (pdf)