The number of Floridians without health insurance dropped to 16.6 percent last year, according to U.S. Census figures released Wednesday.
The decrease represents a drop of 3.4 percentage points from 2013, when the rate was 20 percent.
Despite the drop, Florida still has the third-highest rate of residents without health insurance, after Texas and Alaska. The national rate is 10.4 percent.
Officials attribute the decrease in Florida and around the country to passage of the Affordable Care Act, which expanded health insurance to millions of Americans.
The act gave states the option of expanding Medicaid. Some did so, and others like Florida chose not to do so.
Census officials said Wednesday that states that expanded Medicaid had bigger decreases in the uninsured rates than those that didn't.
The rate of people covered by direct-purchase health insurance, a type of private insurance purchased through a private company or the federal health insurance marketplace, grew in 21 of the nation's 25 largest cities. Miami had the largest increase of any large city, going from 11.5 percent of residents in 2013 to 15 percent of residents last year.
