Number of Uninsured in U.S. Up 3.5 Million This Year, Expected to Rise

The number of adults without health insurance in the U.S. has risen by nearly 3.5 million this year and will likely continue to climb unless Congress takes steps to stabilize health-insurance markets, according to a new installment of a major survey released Friday. The results and analysis published as part of the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index are all the more notable because they come at a time of otherwise low unemployment and economic growth. The survey asks a random sample of 500 people every day about whether they are covered by health insurance, the Associated Press reports. Despite the fast-approaching annual sign-up season for subsidized private insurance plans under the ACA, “no one is expecting this open-enrollment period to increase enrollment,” said Matthew Buettgens, a research analyst at the Urban Institute health-policy center.