But 8 million new enrollees do not tell the complete success story of the ACA. According to a recently released RAND study, 9.3 million Americans were newly insured between September 2013 and mid-March 2014. In addition, Gallup recently reported that 4 percent of the American population became newly insured in 2014, and about half of these individuals obtained coverage through the marketplaces. Overall, these figures represent a drop in the uninsured population from 20.5 percent to 15.8 percent.
What do these enrollment numbers mean, exactly? For one, they signify that a great portion of the American public desired access to health insurance and got what they wanted. In March and April alone, three times as many consumers signed up for coverage as the White House had expected. Overwhelmingly, uninsured and underinsured consumers want access to quality, affordable coverage. Although comparing and choosing health plans is not an easy process, and was only made more difficult by technical glitches with marketplace websites, consumers persevered. Their perseverance shows that the Affordable Care Act is delivering something many American consumers want.