State by State Increases in Number of Insured Americans, Thanks to Obamacare

The GOP has mounted more than 50 separate efforts to crush Obamacare. Republicans have variously tried to repeal the act in whole or in part, and they continue to use every lie in the book to justify wasting everyone’s time. Most of their attacks on the law have been nothing more than empty gestures; political theater meant to keep the inmates—or what they might call their “base”—from burning down the asylum.

While the Affordable Care Act is by no means perfect (it still hurts to hear the term "single payer"), it’s undeniable that the legislation has helped millions of previously uninsured Americans get care. Wallethub took the time to gather the data and see how the ranks of the insured have grown around the country. And it’s interesting to see the difference.

The chart is below, but here’s a bit of helpful information on two of the categories presented, in case it isn’t clear by their titles:

Absolute Difference refers to the difference between the percentage of uninsured/insured in 2014 and 2010. A small change in the absolute difference is not necessarily a bad thing, as the percentage of uninsured people pre-Obamacare may have already been low to start with.

Relative Difference refers to the percentage of uninsured that was reduced to bring the uninsured rate to zero. The result was calculated as follows:

(Uninsured Rate in 2014 – Uninsured Rate in 2010) / (0 - Uninsured Rate in 2010)

Check out the numbers below.