In 2015, there were 28.6 million uninsured Americans, amounting to 9.1 percent of the general population, according to the CDC. This number showed a major drop of 20 million from 48.6 million uninsured Americans in 2010.
Between 2015-2019, however, the number of the uninsured among all Americans has been rising again despite the strong economy during that time, surpassing 33 million in 2019. Under the Trump Administration, cutbacks to federal government insurance program Medicaid decreased enrollment by 0.7 percent between 2017 and 2018. The elimination of 90 percent of the advertising budget for the ACA’s annual sign-up period also resulted in 400,000 fewer enrollments that year, according to CNBC.
As seen in our chart, the number of uninsured Americans started dropping after the enactment of Obamacare in 2010 – first slowly and then more rapidly. Prior to 2010, the number of uninsured rose as a result of the Great Recession which saw many Americans lose their jobs.
This chart shows the number and percentage of U.S. citizens without health insurance coverage in the U.S.
