Well, no particular surprise here — anti-Obamacare states that have refused to expand Medicaid are falling behind in terms of cutting their rates of uninsurance. Gallup released information today isolating states based on whether they expanded Medicaid and whether they chose to run their own marketplace (Gallup counted states like Arkansas which opted for a federal-state partnership). The expansion is likely a much bigger difference maker than whether states ran their own marketplace or opted to let the feds do it for them (though anti-Obamacare states are likelier to have resisted or obstructed outreach efforts on the marketplaces too).
Agreeing to the expansion certainly been the key in Arkansas, where the private option version of Medicaid expansion has already provided coverage to more than 150,000 people (and counting). Arkansas had the second highest rate of uninsurance in the nation based on Gallup’s first-quarter 2013 poll (22.5 percent). Given the success of the private option, Arkansas may well be one of the year’s biggest success stories in terms of bringing that figure down.