Illinois experienced a larger decrease in the uninsured population than the rest of the nation on average as well as most of its neighbor states in the year since the Affordable Care Act was implemented.
Illinois’ population of people 64 years or younger without health insurance decreased by 2.6 percentage points, from 15.7 percent to 13.1 percent, according to a policy brief published Monday by the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs.
The U.S. overall saw a 2.1 percentage point decrease in that sector of uninsured people. Two neighbor states that fared better than Illinois were Missouri – which had a 3.3 percentage point decline – and Kentucky, with a 5.6 percentage point decline.
Kentucky’s widely praised state-run health insurance marketplace was likely a key factor in the second-largest decrease in the uninsured population in the country, according to the institute.