Carl Campanile is reporting for the New York Post the number of New York state residents with health insurance has increased for the eighth consecutive year, defying a national trend, according to new census data. The portion of the state's population without medical coverage last year was 5.4 percent, down from 5.7 percent in 2017. The number of uninsured New Yorkers dropped by just over 1 million. The uninsured rate is now half what it was in 2013, the year before the Affordable Care Act went into effect. Nationally, the uninsured rate rose to 8.9 percent in 2018, up from 8.7 percent the previous year. New York was one of the most aggressive states in leveraging federal funds to increase the number of residents eligible for public health insurance programs. In his analysis of the data, Bill Hammond of the Albany-based fiscally conservative think tank Empire Center for Public Policy said, “Current trends suggest the state could achieve universal coverage through relatively modest expansions of its existing efforts.” New York had the ninth lowest rate of uninsured residents, and was one of 15 states with a declining uninsured rate and one of only three that dropped significantly, according to the Empire analysis. Read the full story in The New York Post.