For the first time in decades the uninsured rate in Kansas is higher than the U.S. average

Historically, the number of Kansans with health insurance was a couple of percentage points better than the United States. Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, that is no longer the case.
The Census Bureau has announced some sober findings for the state of Kansas. The national rate of Americans without health insurance fell to its lowest level since the Affordable Care Act went into effect, but the uninsured rate in Kansas is now higher than the national rate.

Phillip Steiner, a senior analyst at the Kansas Health Institute, said his team was shocked and this was a milestone they didn’t want to reach.

"The data we have goes back to 1999. And historically, Kansas was about a couple percentage points better than the United States. Then once the Affordable Care Act passed, that number caught up and it was essentially like a statistical tie," Steiner said.