Census Bureau to release uninsured report Sept. 16

The U.S. Census Bureau in mid-September will release its annual report on the number of people in the United States without health insurance, with attention expected to be focused on how much the health care reform law has expanded coverage.

The report showing the 2014 coverage rate will be released Sept. 16.

The eagerly awaited report will be the Census Bureau's first since the launch in 2014 of a key element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: the extension of federal premium insurance subsidies to the lower-income uninsured to purchase coverage in public insurance exchanges.

The availability of those subsidies, along with an expansion by more than two dozen states — fueled by big federal financial support — of eligibility for Medicaid, is expected to show a big drop in 2014 of the number of uninsured. In 2013, 42 million Americans, or 13.4% of the population, lacked health insurance coverage, according to last year's census report.