Obamacare hasn't been a cure-all for America's uninsured population — but it sure has changed the numbers of people without health coverage, and what the remaining uninsured look like. Two new surveys out Thursday shed new light on the effects of the Affordable Care Act. One details a dramatic drop in the uninsured population in California, the nation's most populous state, and one that has fully embraced Obamacare's tools for expanding health coverage. The other survey describes how people nationally who still lack health insurance after Obamacare's first two years are more likely to be Hispanic, be very poor, be under the age of 35 and work for a small business.

Uninsured say coverage 'too expensive'

The first survey comes from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which has been tracking the effects of the ACA in California since 2013 in a series of interviews with the uninsured. That year was the last one before individual health insurance plans went on sale on government-run Obamacare marketplaces nationwide, and also the last year before the ACA rule mandating nearly every American to have some form of health coverage or pay a fine took effect.

Kaiser's survey in 2014 found that 58 percent of the uninsured population in California had gained health coverage since the year before. In 2015, the survey found that 68 percent of the previously uninsured had obtained such coverage. The new survey released Thursday found that in 2016, 72 percent of previously uninsured Californians had become covered. The percentage was even higher if uninsured undocumented workers, who are not eligible for either Medicaid or Obamacare plans, are not considered. Among previously uninsured, eligible Californians, 78 percent are now insured in some manner, Kaiser found. When currently uninsured people were asked why they still don't have coverage, almost half said insurance is too expensive for them. Kaiser's report on the survey noted that largest share of the recently insured residents — 33 percent — have become covered through Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program that covers primarily low-income people. Another 21 percent are insured through employer-based health plans, and just 11 percent are insured through plans sold on Covered California, the state-run Obamacare exchange. The rest of the recently insured said they have other forms of coverage. Kaiser's survey also found that recently insured Californians "are more likely to report that their health needs are being met today than when they were uninsured" — 77 percent this year, compared to 49 percent in 2013. Nearly 80 percent of the recently insured said their experiences with their current coverage has been positive.

Huge differences in Medicaid expansion states