The nation’s uninsured rate dropped in January as the major coverage expansion under President Obama’s health care law got underway. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index found that the uninsured rate for U.S. adults dropped by 1.2 percentage points in January, to 16.1 percent. The biggest change was for the unemployed, a drop of 6.7 percentage points. That was followed by a 2.6 percentage-point decline for nonwhites. Both groups are far more likely to be uninsured than the population as a whole. The Gallup numbers could be the first evidence that the much-debated law has started delivering on the promise of access for all Americans. The drop in the uninsured rate translates to approximately 2 million to 3 million people gaining coverage.

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