3.5 million more people are without health insurance since Trump was elected

President Donald TrumpGetty Images/Pool

• The percentage of Americans without health insurance increased to 12.3% in the third quarter.
• This is an increase of 0.6 percentage points from last quarter, and 1.4 points from a year ago.
• Gallup said the increase is in part due to “Congressional Republicans’ attempts to replace” Obamacare.

The percentage of Americans living without health insurance ticked up in the third quarter, according to a new Gallup-Sharecare poll.

12.3% of Americans are currently without insurance, an increase of 0.6 percentage points from the second quarter and up 1.4 percentage points from its historic low a year ago when President Donald Trump was elected.

According to Gallup, this is the highest the uninsured rate has been since the fourth quarter of 2014.

While the increase seems small in terms of percentages, the raw number of people is still tremendous.

“However, the 1.4-point increase in the percentage of adults without health insurance since the end of last year represents nearly 3.5 million Americans who have entered the ranks of the uninsured,” said a blog post from Gallup on the poll.

Gallup-Sharecare

The reasons for the rise in the number of uninsured are diverse ranging from insurer participation in the Obamacare exchanges to healthcare costs, according to a post from Gallup. The attempts by Trump and congressional Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare also could having an impact.

“Uncertainty about the healthcare law also may be driving the increase,” Gallup said. “Congressional Republicans’ attempts to replace the healthcare law may be causing consumers to question whether the government will enforce the penalty for not having insurance.”

Despite the uptick, the uninsured rate is still well below its pre-Obamacare level of 18%.