--- title: 16.4 Million Gain Insurance Under Affordable Care Act description: Over the past five years, about 16.4 million previously uninsured people have gained insurance under the Affordable Care Act. canonical: https://time.com/3745948/obamacare-uninsured/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-16T15:15:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-15T05:34:25.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: 16.4 Million Have Gotten Insurance Under Affordable Care Act og:description: Over the past five years. og:url: https://time.com/3745948/obamacare-uninsured/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fd8ca3df4f51472/6987804acd1bba48bc6f5523/healthcare-obamacare.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: The home page for the HealthCare.gov on March 31, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 16.4 Million Have Gotten Insurance Under Affordable Care Act twitter:description: Over the past five years. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fd8ca3df4f51472/6987804acd1bba48bc6f5523/healthcare-obamacare.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 16.4 Million Have Gotten Insurance Under Affordable Care Act in Past Five Years > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Walmart Wants To Be ‘Number One Health-Care Provider’ [Watch (HLS stream): Walmart Wants To Be ‘Number One Health-Care Provider’](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Vm7j6WBW.m3u8) (1:33)  _Published 2014-10-06. The massive rebranding of Walmart just keeps branching into new areas. The big box retailer announced Monday it’ll team up with DirectHealth.com to help you figure out health insurance._ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 15, 2023 5:34 AM UTCPublished: Mar 16, 2015 3:15 PM UTC  This image shows the home page for the HealthCare.gov internet site, taken on March 31, 2014 in Washington. This image shows the home page for the HealthCare.gov internet site, taken on March 31, 2014 in Washington. Karen Bleier—AFP/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 15, 2023 5:34 AM UTCPublished: Mar 16, 2015 3:15 PM UTC Over the past five years, about [16.4 million previously uninsured](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ib%5Funinsured%5Fchange.pdf) people have gained insurance under the Affordable Care Act, the Obama Administration announced Monday. The Department of Health and Human Services released new figures on the insured population one week ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Act’s passage. HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said Monday it’s the “largest reduction in the uninsured in four decades.” “When it comes to the key metrics of affordability, access, and quality, the evidence shows that the Affordable Care Act is working, and families, businesses and taxpayers are better off as a result,” Burwell said in a statement. About 14.1 million adults gained insurance since insurance marketplaces opened up in October 2013 and another 2.3 million young adults were able to stay on their parents insurance until age 26 under the law. According to the data, the uninsured rate is slightly lower in states that have expanded Medicaid coverage compared to those that have not. The uninsured rate has dropped significantly for minorities under the law. Since 2013, 2.3 million black adults have gained insurance resulting in 9.2 percent point drop in the uninsured rate. About 29.5% of Hispanic adults are still uninsured, the highest uninsured rate among American adults, but some 4.2 million have gained coverage. The news comes as the fate of the Affordable Care Act lies in hands of the Supreme Court which heard oral arguments in a case that could essentially gut the President’s signature health law. _Read next:_ [_Your Boss May Be Able To Force You To Buy Health Insurance_](http://time.com/money/3741502/mandatory-employer-health-insurance/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ## Transcript The great Wal- Mart rebrand just keeps branching into new areas. The big box retailer announced Monday it'll team up with DirectHealth. com to help you figure out health insurance. Let's face it folks. The new health care reform law is complex. And therein lies the opportunity as. Walmart sees it. Health insurance sign up for Medicare and Medicaid was already well, just look. In announcing healthcare begins here, Walmart's Senior VP for Health and Wellness wrote, customers have called picking healthcare options. Far too confusing. Licensed agents will be in 2, 700 stores to help walk you through the enrollment process as early as Friday. Healthcare Begins Here addresses that complexity by bringing clarity and increased choice to the insurance enrollment process. In the aftermath of the Affordable Care Act, the competition to be known as the Authority on Healthcare has led other stores like Walgreens and CVS to try their hands at being more than just pharmacies. And with a load of overhead, huge demands on its suppliers, and slumping sales since the economic recession, Walmart's made massive efforts to pivot and figure out anyway to bring middle and lower income customers back to its stores. Much of that includes not just offering products, but services. Everything from testing drive through grocery shopping, re- vamping its home page to presumably complete with all- ecommerce companies like Amazon, offering no overdraft checking accounts and trying out primary care health clinics in a dozen stores in 2014. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3745948/obamacare-uninsured/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3745948/obamacare-uninsured/"},"headline":"16.4 Million Have Gotten Insurance Under Affordable Care Act in Past Five Years","datePublished":"2015-03-16T15:15:45.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-15T05:34:25.000Z","description":"Obama administration announced changes ahead of fifth anniversary of the law's passage.","url":"https://time.com/3745948/obamacare-uninsured/","keywords":["Health Care","White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fd8ca3df4f51472/6987804acd1bba48bc6f5523/healthcare-obamacare.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fd8ca3df4f51472/6987804acd1bba48bc6f5523/healthcare-obamacare.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The home page for the HealthCare.gov on March 31, 2014.","caption":"The home page for the HealthCare.gov on March 31, 2014.","creditText":"Karen Bleier—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health-care/","name":"Health Care"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3745948/obamacare-uninsured/","name":"16.4 Million Have Gotten Insurance Under Affordable Care Act in Past Five Years"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Walmart Wants To Be ‘Number One Health-Care Provider’","description":"The massive rebranding of Walmart just keeps branching into new areas. 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