LANSING – In 2015, just 5 percent of Michigan residents reported not having health insurance, research from the Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation found. The findings, in a survey conducted from October to December 2015, showed a dramatic decline from the high of 14 percent of the population without coverage in 2012.

The findings were released earlier in June by the University of Michigan-based organization. The survey the results were based on was conducted by the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University as part of its State of the State Survey.

The survey found that just 5 percent of the respondents – a total of 972 persons were in the survey – said in late 2015 they did not have health insurance coverage.

The survey was conducted nearly two years after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act took effect in January 2014, and about 18 months after the Healthy Michigan Medicaid expansion took effect in Michigan.

The survey did not ask individuals what kind of insurance they had – private or through Medicaid – just whether they were covered.

At 5 percent, the state is seeing the lowest level of uninsured persons in years. In 2009, 10 percent of the population reported not having health insurance, a figure which grew to 12 percent in 2011 and then to 14 percent in 2012.

In 2014, the state had already seen a striking decline in the number of people without insurance, down to 7 percent.

Of those without coverage, the survey found that 54 percent reported having incomes between $30,000 and $60,000 and 50 percent said they worked full-time. Just 3 percent were unemployed.

The largest percentage, 39 percent, reported being between ages 18 and 30 years old, while another 36 percent said they were between 30 and 49 years old. Convincing younger people they should have health insurance has reportedly been one of the more difficult tasks since the ACA took effect.

In addition, the survey found that 80 percent of those without insurance were white, and 50 percent said they lived in small cities.

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