Data released by the National Health Interview Survey on Veterans Day had good news for everyone who has served in uniform: the number of veterans without health insurance declined rapidly in the last few years. The survey, conducted by the Urban Institute, found that uninsured status among non-elderly veterans dropped from 12 percent in 2013 to 8.6 percent in 2014. This is the first published research on how the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has affected veterans.
The institute's prior research discovered in 2010, before the ACA's coverage provisions were implemented, that more than 1 million non-elderly veterans lacked health insurance. When compared to former military members with veterans insurance, uninsured veterans reported that they had much less access to the kinds of health care required to treat a variety of mental and physical ailments.
This month marks the start of the third ACA open enrollment period, and it appears veterans are taking advantage of the new ACA and Medicaid coverage options open to them, as well as the choice of additional enrollment in military insurance plans available from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Since the ACA went into effect, more than 16 million previously uninsured Americans have received coverage, according to the Washington Post, while costing $142 billion less than the Congressional Budget Office expected.
Until the Urban Institute released their survey, it wasn't yet known if the number of uninsured veterans would follow the same pattern as that of the general population. Now it's obvious that improvements have been made. But there is still more to do. In 2014, 1 in 11 veterans still reported they were uninsured. The institute noted that if more states expand their Medicaid programs the number will continue to decline significantly, but in the meantime, insurance for veterans continues to be a work in progress.