--- title: Uninsured Americans Drop by 8.8 Million People in 2014 description: There were no significant changes in the poverty rate or the average household's income last year canonical: https://time.com/4036307/number-of-uninsured-americans-dropped-by-8-8-million-people-in-2014/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-16T15:42:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:49.013Z article:section: Politics og:title: Number of Uninsured People Dropped by 8.8 Million in 2014 og:description: Officials credited the Affordable Care Act for much of the change og:url: https://time.com/4036307/number-of-uninsured-americans-dropped-by-8-8-million-people-in-2014/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Number of Uninsured People Dropped by 8.8 Million in 2014 twitter:description: Officials credited the Affordable Care Act for much of the change twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Number of Uninsured Americans Dropped by 8.8 Million People in 2014 > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=167f6139-ab8d-4b36-816c-ddf9f5613cff&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Sleep Expert Says Typical Work Day Is 'Torture' [Watch (HLS stream): Sleep Expert Says Typical Work Day Is 'Torture'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/s12Tl0P7.m3u8) (1:18)  _Published 2015-09-09. An Oxford University researcher says forcing ourselves to work before 10 a.m. doesn't line up with our bodies' circadian rhythms._  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Sep 16, 2015 3:42 PM UTC  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Sep 16, 2015 3:42 PM UTC The number of Americans without health insurance dropped by 8.8 million people last year, the Obama administration announced Wednesday. That brings the total population of uninsured people to 33 million, [the _New York Times_ reports](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/us/politics/census-bureau-poverty-rate-uninsured.html?emc=edit%5Fna%5F20150916&nlid=72919783&ref=headline). The data, which comes from the Census Bureau’s annual report on income, health insurance and poverty, says the rate of uninsured people went from 13.3 percent in 2013 to 10.4 percent last year. Officials say the Affordable Care Act has driven much of that change. The decline occurred without any statistically significant change in the average U.S. household’s income. The median income last year was $53,660, according to the Census Bureau. It also occurred without any significant change in the poverty rate, which was 14.8 percent last year (about 46.7 million people). That’s the fourth year in a row that the percentage of Americans in poverty has stayed largely the same as the year before. \[[_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/us/politics/census-bureau-poverty-rate-uninsured.html?emc=edit%5Fna%5F20150916&nlid=72919783&ref=headline)\] ## Transcript The standard 9 to 5 workday may be killing us. Well, that's what one Oxford University academic says. Dr. Paul Kelley is an honorary clinical fellow at Oxford University's Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute. He says normal working hours don't line up with our body's circadian rhythms, and as a result, we're putting ourselves at risk. We cannot change our 24- hour rhythms. So you can not learn to get up a certain time. Your body will be attuned to sunlight, and you're not conscious of it because it reports to the hypothalamus, not sight, Kelly said. Kelly warns the possible side effects of prolonged sleep deprivation can range Range from bad decision making, to obesity and type 2 diabetes. Adults aren't the only ones who should have a later start to the day. Kelly argues that children should start school based on their natural waking habits. For young kids, that's earlier in the morning. For teens, a reasonable start time is around 11 AM. Researchers have, of course, been studying sleep patterns for years. For good reason. The National Health Service estimates one in three people suffers from poor sleep. I'm tired all the time. [ NOISE ] All right, raise your hand if you feel that way. Kelly says poor sleep is an international issue. Everyone's suffering and we don't having to. His solution? Push back workplace start times to 10am for all workers under age 55. 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