What has happened to the rate of insured Americans after a year of the GOP-controlled Congress trying to end the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare?

The number of uninsured Americans has remained statistically unchanged, 28.5 million at any time in 2017 versus 28.1 million in 2016, or 8.8 percent of the populace both years, according to Census Bureau data released on Sept. 12. The uninsured rate was 13.3 percent in 2014, when most major provisions of the ACA began, the Census reported.

However, the Trump White House and Republican Congress have made inroads into weakening the ACA on two fronts.

One is ending the ACA’s individual mandate, which eliminates a financial penalty for lacking coverage, beginning in 2019. The other is approving work requirements for Medicaid, which along with the Children’s Health Insurance Plan, provides coverage to about 60 million Americans, from youth to pregnant women, parents, seniors and disabled persons. Both ACA changes could hike the ranks of the uninsured.

On the other side of the health-insurance equation, a 4.1 percent jobless rate in fourth-quarter 2017 was a probable factor in the uninsured rate staying the same. There is a clear reason why. Employed workers can be eligible for insurance from their employers.

The Census data draws on the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey. State-by-state, the rate of health insurance coverage varied.

The percentage of the uninsured rose in Oregon, Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut, a total of 14 states. The percentage of the uninsured fell in California, Louisiana and New York.

While a state being blue or red is one factor in the rise or fall of the uninsured, the deep-blue, most populous state is also leading the way on expanding coverage, according to one expert.

"California has had the largest drop in the uninsured rate of all 50 states from 2013 to 2017, going from 6.5 million uninsured to 2.8 million," said Anthony Wright, head of Health Access California, a consumer advocacy group, in a statement. The Golden State has a 7.2 percent-uninsured rate compared with the national rate of 8.8 percent.

For the nation’s 25 most populous metro areas in 2017, Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, San Francisco, Baltimore and Detroit had the lowest uninsured rates. The highest rates of the uninsured rates were in Atlanta, San Antonio, Miami, Dallas and Houston last year.

It is worth noting that Texas declined the ACA’s Medicaid expansion. California did expand its Medicaid enrollment, or Medi-Cal.

Private insurers covered the most Americans at 62.7 percent in 2017 versus government coverage of 37.7 percent, according to the Census.

Employer-based insurance was the most widespread, 56.0 percent of the populace for some or all of the 2017 calendar year. Next most common was Medicaid, 19.3 percent, Medicare, 17.2 percent, direct-purchase coverage, 16.0 percent, and military coverage, 4.8 percent.

In 2017, 5.4 percentage of youth under age 19 were uninsured, not statistically changed versus 2016, according to the Census. For children under age 19 living in poverty, the uninsured rate was 7.8 percent.

Demographically, the uninsured rate was unchanged statistically for all races and Hispanic origin groups, e.g., heritage, nationality, lineage.

America’s Health Insurance Plans, a national political advocacy and trade association, declined a MultiBriefs request for comment.