The American Community Survey numbers, released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday, show that Maine’s uninsured population rose from 135,000 in 2012 to 147,000 in 2013, an increase of 12,000 people.
However, that difference carries a margin of error of 10,000 people. That means Maine could have between 2,000 and 22,000 more uninsured.
In 2013, 11.2 percent of Mainers were uninsured, according to the report, up from 10.2 percent in 2012.
Maine advocates for the poor believe the uninsured rate jumped because the state tightened eligibility for MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program, and cut thousands of parents and childless adults from coverage.
“This dramatic increase of 12,000 uninsured and the fact that Maine is one of only two states to see an increase in the percentage of people without health insurance are sobering evidence of the failure of Maine’s recent health care policy choices,” said Maine Center for Economic Policy Executive Director Garrett Martin in a statement released Tuesday.
“Restrictions on Medicaid eligibility and elimination of key consumer protections proposed by Gov. (Paul) LePage and passed by the 125th Legislature were major factors in reversing Maine’s decade-long progress toward increasing the number of Mainers with health care coverage,” Martin said.
LePage said his MaineCare changes had nothing to do with it. He believes the Affordable Care Act, often called “Obamacare,” likely caused the increase in the number of uninsured.
“Although the employer mandate was delayed until after the election, there have been many stories about adjustments companies are making to avoid costly mandates or penalties,” LePage spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett said in an email. “These changes could have affected the 60 percent of Mainers receiving insurance through their employer. We also know that more than 10,000 private health insurance plans in Maine were canceled because of Obamacare mandates.”
According to the Maine Bureau of Insurance, health insurers saw a 6 percent drop in enrollees in 2013.
Both sides agree the year-old data likely don’t give an accurate snapshot of the number of uninsured in Maine today.
Advocates expect Maine will see fewer uninsured this year as more people sign up for health insurance through the federal marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act. The ACA mandates health insurance for most Americans beginning this year.
A Gallup poll released last month showed the percentage of uninsured in Maine dropped from about 16 percent to about 13 percent.
“We expect that as we get more and more current data, we’re going to see the rate decline,” said Emily Brostek, executive director of Maine Consumers for Affordable Health Care. “And that’s going to give us a truer sense of what Maine’s uninsured rate really is right now.”
The Maine Center for Economic Policy agreed, saying 2014 data — to be released by the Census next September — will show the impact of the ACA on the uninsured in Maine. The center believes the number of uninsured will fall but not as far or as fast as other states because Maine has declined to expand Medicaid.
The center cited a July report from the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Institute that said the uninsured rate has dropped 37.7 percent in states that expanded Medicaid and 9 percent in the states that didn’t.
Bennett said that with the LePage administration’s encouragement, more Mainers are signing up for private health insurance. The individual market, she said, has nearly doubled from 32,000 people in 2013 to 64,000 in 2014, “which should favorably impact the uninsured figure,” she said.
According to Tuesday’s Census report, New Jersey was the only other state in the county to show an increase in uninsured. It saw 47,000 more people without insurance.
Thirteen states saw a drop in the number of uninsured. Those states are Alaska, California, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Wyoming.
Nationally, 42 million people, or about 13.4 percent of Americans, were uninsured for all of 2013.
Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2013
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