The nation’s leading health research agency reported that the percentage of uninsured Americans reached a record low earlier this year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reported (pdf) last week that the uninsured rate among all Americans in the first quarter of 2015 fell to 9.2%. The nation hasn’t had that low a rate for uninsured people of all ages since 1972, when the NCHS began keeping track of such data. The 9.2% represented 29 million Americans, 7 million fewer than were uninsured in 2014. The agency also reported the uninsured rate for those under age 65 was 10.7%, also a record low.

NCHS gave no reason for the decline, but it isn’t difficult to draw a conclusion. “The health law remains controversial, and that will likely continue to be the case,” Larry Levitt, senior vice president at the Kaiser Foundation, told The Huffington Post. “But we now have facts that can be used to judge the (Affordable Care Act) rather than hypothetical arguments, and there’s no doubt at this point that more people are getting insured and it’s making a difference in their lives.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff, Steve Straehley

To Learn More:

CDC Survey Shows Uninsured Rate Dropping To Historic 9.2 Percent (by Joseph Burns, Association of Health Care Journalists)

Health Insurance Coverage: Early Release of Estimates From the National Health Interview Survey, January–March 2015 (by Robin A. Cohen, and Michael E. Martinez, National Center for Health Statistics) (pdf)

New Report Confirms What the GOP Won’t Admit: Obamacare Is Working (by Jonathan Cohn, Huffington Post)

10 States with Highest Uninsured Rates are all run by Republicans (by Steve Straehley, AllGov)

Missouri Government Fights to Keep Health Insurance from Uninsured (by Matt Bewig, AllGov)