Report: Before ACA, 79 Million People Were Uninsured or Underinsured

Before the main provisions of the Affordable Care Act took effect, there were about 79 million people in the U.S. who were either uninsured or underinsured—nearly 30 percent of the population younger than 65, according to a report released March 25 by the Commonwealth Fund (CF).

The CF said the report, “America’s Underinsured: A State-by-State Look at Health Insurance Affordability Prior to the New Coverage Expansions,” was the first to analyze the number of underinsured by state. The report is intended to provide a baseline to measure the success of the ACA in providing more affordable health care.

The ACA’s ...