Here are four key highlights from the report.
1. According to an analysis of data from 2012 through the first quarter of 2015 from the Gallup Healthways Well-Being index, coverage rates among non-elderly adults increased at similar rates among individuals in rural and urban areas, rising by 8 percentage points in rural areas and 7.9 percentage points in urban areas. Since 2015, the national uninsured rate for non-elderly adults has continued to decline for both urban and rural individuals.
2. Coverage gains were larger for individuals in states that expanded Medicaid, but in all states gains were modestly larger for individuals in rural areas than urban areas. According to the report, this finding is particularly striking because uninsured rural individuals are disproportionately concentrated in states that have not expanded Medicaid.
3. ASPE analysis of 2015 data from the National Health Interview Survey found that 65 percent of the 4.5 million non-elderly uninsured in rural areas lived in states that had not expanded Medicaid, according to the report. In comparison, 51 percent of the non-elderly uninsured in urban areas lived in states that had not expanded Medicaid.
4. In the third open enrollment period for coverage in 2016, 1.71 million people living in rural areas signed up for health plans or had their coverage automatically renewed through the HealthCare.gov platform. This represents an 11 percent increase over 2015 for rural consumers, compared with an 8 percent increase for other consumers.
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