The uninsured rate plummeted yet again, according to a new poll by Gallup.
The survey of more than 44,000 U.S. adults that took place during the first three months of the year reported an uninsured rate of 11 percent, down from 11.9 percent during the fourth quarter of 2015.
That's a new low achieved largely due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The uninsured rate has declined consistently since the landmark health law was implemented at the beginning of 2014, when it stood at just above 18 percent.
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Most of the drop took place during 2014, the first year of the law's implementation. During 2015, however, the insured rate plateaued. The Obama administration responded by trying aggressive new outreach measures as well as by raising the fine imposed on those who do not buy coverage.
The administration's efforts were guided both by its goal of achieving near-universal coverage as well as pressure from insurers that not enough younger, healthy people were signing up for their plans to offset the costs of the older, sicker people who were.
Although there remain sharp political divisions over the law, with Republicans insisting that repealing Obamacare is a top priority, there have also been signs that the political winds are changing in the law's favor.
Other issues have pushed the PPACA out of the spotlight, and even many of its opponents in Congress recognize that getting rid of a law that currently provides coverage to so many people could come at a heavy price economically and politically.
In fact, two of the three remaining Republican presidential candidates have cozied up to key parts of the law that not one member of their party in Congress voted to approve in 2010.
Donald Trump says he opposes Obamacare, but his vague statements on the issue have often embraced key provisions of the law, including the expansion of Medicaid and requirements that insurers accept customers regardless of preexisting medical conditions. John Kasich has shrugged off attacks from conservatives over his state's participation in the federally-funded Medicaid expansion, arguing it was the right thing to do.
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