Dive Brief:

• New data reveals that the uninsured rate among US adults for the fourth quarter of 2014 averaged 12.9%, down from 13.4% in Q3 2014. But the drop is significant from one year ago, when the percentage of uninsured Americans hit 17.1.
• Researchers credit the ACA for the drop in uninsured Americans. 
• The 12.9% who lacked health insurance in the fourth quarter (a percentage based on more than 43,000 interviews with US adults from Oct. 1 to Dec. 30, 2014, as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index) is the lowest the polling organizations have recorded since 2008, when they began to track this metric. 

Dive Insight:

The drop in uninsured consumers is significant enough to credit the insurance mandate, which offers positive and negative incentives for coverage. What's more: the uninsured rate among Americans earning less than $36,000 in annual household income dropped 6.9 points, the Gallup poll revealed. Additionally, the percentage of uninsured Hispanics is down 6.3 points since the end of 2013.