Government reports Obamacare coverage gains are starting to retreat

The coverage gains achieved by the Affordable Care Act are starting to erode. The uninsured rate for those ages 45 to 64 jumped to 10.3% in 2018, up from 9.3% a year earlier, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Thursday. It's the first time a government study has shown an increase in the rate, though polling and research groups had previously found that people had been losing their health insurance since President Donald Trump took office. The increase comes two years into Trump's administration, which has sought to undermine and dismantle the Affordable Care Act as well as add restrictions to Medicaid. Enrollment in both programs has been slipping. The landmark health care law is credited with extending coverage to millions of Americans, prompting the uninsured rate for non-elderly adults to plummet from 22.3% in 2010, the year Obamacare passed, to a low of 12.4% in 2016. Last year, it stood at 13.3%, though the agency noted the difference was not statistically significant.