Uninsured rate creeps up

Gallup also reported that fewer Americans than ever are getting health insurance from their employer.

Just 43.3 percent of American adults said they get coverage from an employer in the second quarter of this year, the lowest quarterly average Gallup and Healthways have recorded to date. Employer-based health insurance has been falling steadily since 2009.

Opponents of President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act argue dropped health coverage is an unintended consequence of the law that will hurt employees who want to stick with the coverage they know and want.

About one in four adults receives health insureance through Medicare, Medicaid, or military/veterans’ benefits as has been the case since 2010. Another 11 percent said they got their health insurance through “something else,” which may mean they simply bought it themselves.

The Gallup numbers are based on telephone interviews conducted as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey April 1-June 30, 2013, with a random sample of 45,505 adults.