Ahmed Aboulenein

WASHINGTON (Reuters] – The U.S.-run Medicaid insurance program saw an 16% increase in enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic, and over 11 million more Americans signed up, according to the Department of Health and Human Services on Friday.

The department stated that safety nets such as Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act reopening enrollment helped to stabilize uninsured rate even though millions of Americans lost their employer-related insurance coverage during the Pandemic.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra stated that “The COVID-19 epidemic has affected our lives in many different ways. Yet, today’s report shows that we have made substantial strides to safeguard Americans’ health.”

In a report about health insurance coverage coverage, HHS said that the pandemic had disrupted federal surveys used to estimate coverage. This may have led to lower response rates in younger, lower-income individuals, which could have affected its accuracy.

According to the data, there was a steady uninsured rate for 2020. Estimates range from 8.6% up 9.7%, which is roughly 28-31.6million people. According to federal surveys, around 30 million U.S. citizens were not insured in 2019, prior to the pandemic.

Friday’s report revealed that the uninsured rate in Hispanic communities was 18.3% higher than it was among residents of states without expanding Medicaid coverage (17.6%), people living below the poverty line (17.2%), and Black population (10.4%).

The department stated that addressing these disparities was a priority for President Joe Biden’s administration.

These data are ahead of the opening and closing dates for enrollment in the online marketplace for health insurance created by the ACA (also known as Obamacare) for 2022.

Around 2.8 million people signed up for health insurance on government website Healthcare.gov https://www.healthcare.gov after Biden re-opened enrollment for a special period from Feb. 15 to Aug. 15 in part because of the pandemic.

The 2020 Democratic candidate ran on a promise of reducing growing inequality. This included expanding healthcare access and making affordable drugs available amid a pandemic which has already killed more than 750,000 people.

Biden provided a negotiation plan for social spending on Thursday to Congressmen.

The bill expands ACA’s premium tax credit through 2025, and covers hearing care costs for those 65 years and older. However, it notably lacked substantial Medicare and Medicaid coverage expansions and drug price reform.