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ByRicardoAlonso- Zaldivar TheAssociatedPress WASHINGTON Underlining a change across the nation, nearly 9 out of 10 adults now say they have health insurance, according to an extensive survey released Monday. As recently as 2013, slightly more than 8 out of 10 had coverage. Whether the new num- ber from the Gallup- Healthways Well-Being In- dex turns out to be a high- water mark for President Barack Obama's health care law, or a milestone on the path toward his goal of getting virtually all U.S. residents covered, remains to be seen. The law's future is still up in the air, and will turn on factors ranging from an upcoming Supreme Court decision on consumer sub- sidies to actions by Repub- lican leaders in states op- posed to Medicaid expan- sion. The Gallup-Health- ways survey found that the share of adults who lack insurance dropped to 11.9 percent for the first three months of this year, the low- est level since that survey began its tracking in 2008. The latest update overlaps with the period when the health law's second sign-up season was winding down. Coverage gains from 2014-2015 translate to about 3.6 million fewer adults un- insured since the fall, be- fore open enrollment got under way, according to Gallup. "The Affordable Care Act had three major objec- tives: increase coverage, slow the rate of increase in costs, and improve health," said Dan Witters, research director for the poll. "The first one is clearly a win. Coverage is increasing; there is no question about it." On balance, an estimated 14.75 million adults have gained coverage since the fall of 2013, when the law's first open enrollment sea- son was about to begin, ac- cording to Gallup. "A big outstanding ques- tion is what will hap- pen over the next couple of years," said Larry Lev- itt, a health insurance ex- pert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. "To meet expectations, en- rollment has to continue to grow and push the number of uninsured down." The Gallup-Healthways survey is closely followed because it combines the depth of government-spon- sored research with the timeliness of media polls. Pollsters interview 500 peo- ple a day, nearly every day of the year. One of the ques- tions they ask is whether people have health insur- ance. The health care law of- fers subsidized private in- surance for people who don't have access to job- based coverage, combined with an expansion of Med- icaid aimed at low-income adults in states that accept it. Big states like Florida and Texas are among those refusing to expand Medic- aid. The law requires nearly all Americans to have cov- erage, either through an employer, a government program, or by purchas- ing their own plan. Those remaining uninsured risk fines. It also provides sub- sidies to help low- to moder- ate-income people buy their own insurance. Comparing the most re- cent sign-up period with the first open enrollment sea- son, the survey found that the uninsured rate declined at a slightly slower pace this time around. In the first three months of this year, the uninsured rate fell by 1 percentage point. Over the same period last year there was a 1.5 percentage-point decline. From government offi- cials to local volunteers, many people involved with the health care law expected some kind of sec- ond-year slowdown. Open enrollment season was shorter, and those who had remained uninsured were seen as more skepti- cal about the value of cov- erage. The survey also found: • Hispanics saw the big- gest coverage gains of any ethnic or racial group. The uninsured rate dropped 8.3 points among Latinos since the end of 2013. Even so, Hispanics are still more likely to be uninsured. "At a time when Republicans are very keenly trying to court the Hispanic vote, a large chunk of Hispanics are gaining insurance via the Affordable Care Act," Witters said. • Recent gains in cov- erage have benefited peo- ple up and down the in- come ladder. But the most notable improvement has been among those making less than $36,000 a year, a group that traditionally struggled to get and keep health insurance. Their uninsured rate dropped 8.7 points since the end of 2013. • Although the economic recovery is likely to be con- tributing to coverage gains, the uninsured rate is now significantly lower than it was in early 2008, before the recession. That suggests that the gains in coverage are due to more than an im- proving economy. Five years after its pas- sage, the biggest question now for Obama's health care law is a Supreme Court challenge. Opponents of the law ar- gue that its literal language only allows the government to subsidize premiums in states that set up their own online insurance markets. Most have not done so, defaulting to the federal HealthCare.gov. Supporters say that while some provisions may be confusing when read in isolation, the intent of Con- gress was to help consum- ers in every state pay their premiums. A decision in that case is expected by late June. The survey results were based on landline and cell- phone interviews con- ducted from Jan. 2 to March 31 with a random sample of 43,575 adults ages 18 and older. For results based on the total sample, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 1 percentage point. SURVEY Ne ar ly 9 i n 10 U S ad ul ts n ow h av e he al th i ns ur an ce By Josh Funk The Associated Press SIOUX CITY, IOWA Two for- mer Iowa egg industry ex- ecutives are scheduled to be sentenced Monday for their roles in a major 2010 salmonella outbreak that sickened thousands of peo- ple. Austin "Jack" DeCoster and his son, Peter DeCoster, face up to a year in jail. Prosecutors haven't asked for a specific sentence, but they noted the widespread harm caused by the out- break when asking the judge for a tough punish- ment. The U.S. Centers for Dis- ease Control linked 1,939 illnesses to the 2010 out- break, but officials esti- mate that up to 56,000 people may have been sick- ened. Investigators argue that the DeCosters knew their Iowa egg facilities were at risk for salmonella contamination before the outbreak. The elder DeCoster, 80, of Turner, Maine, and his 51-year-old son, who lives in Clarion, Iowa, are sched- uled to be in a federal court- room for Monday's hearing in Sioux City. Both men pleaded guilty last year to intro- ducing adulterated eggs into interstate com- merce. "I wouldn't be surprised if the judge didn't sentence them to jail, but I'd be dis- appointed," said food safety lawyer Bill Marler, whose firm represented more than 100 people sickened in the outbreak. The DeCosters' Qual- ity Egg company has agreed to pay a $6.8 million fine as part of a plea agreement, and the DeCosters will pay $100,000 apiece. U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett has the authority to order different fines and up to a year in jail. Quality Egg has admit- ted that workers know- ingly shipped eggs with false processing and expi- ration dates to fool state regulators and retail cus- tomers about their age and bribed a U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture in- spector at least twice to approve sales of poor- quality eggs. It's unclear when or how the DeCosters learned about the bribes, but pros- ecutors say that shows their disregard for food safety regulations. Regardless of the im- posed sentence, Mar- ler said he believes the case — along with several other high-profile prose- cutions in food cases, has made an impression on food producers he meets at conferences or in court- rooms. In the past 18 months, two Colorado cantaloupe farmers were convicted and received probation in a deadly 2011 listeria out- break, and the former owner of Peanut Corpora- tion of America was con- victed in a 2008 salmonella outbreak. The peanut executive, Stewart Parnell, has yet to be sentenced. PUNISHMENT Egg executives to be sentenced in salmonella outbreak THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Quality Egg LLC owner Austin "Jack" DeCoster, le , and its chief operating officer, Peter DeCoster, are shown in a combination of file photos. Austin, a self-made titan in the egg industry, his son and the Iowa company they ran pleaded guilty to federal food safety violations stemming from a nationwide salmonella outbreak that sickened thousands in 2010. By Maryclaire Dale The Associated Press PHILADELPHIA A woman accused of dumping her quadriplegic son in the woods so she could spend the week with her out-of- state boyfriend remained hospitalized Monday for a third day in Maryland while Philadelphia police awaited her release to arrest her. Nyia Parler has been hos- pitalized for undisclosed reasons since late Friday, just hours after her 21-year- old son was found in a pile of wet leaves, next to his wheelchair and a Bible, au- thorities said. Police believe he had been there all week — ex- posed to the cold, rainy weather and to wild ani- mals. The son remained in sta- ble condition Monday at Children's Hospital of Phil- adelphia after being treated for dehydration, malnutri- tion and abrasions, Phil- adelphia police Lt. John Walker said. The son, whose name has not been released, has cere- bral palsy. Parler, 41, told concerned relatives last week that she had taken her son with her when she went to visit her boyfriend, police said. The son attends a public high school that had inquired about his absences, they said. An arrest warrant is- sued Saturday charges Par- ler with aggravated as- sault, kidnapping, neglect of a care-dependent person and other counts. Philadel- phia police did not expect to arrest Parler until she was cleared for release from the hospital and charged in Maryland as a fugitive. They would then seek to have her extradited. Police in Maryland would not discuss details of how the mother came to be hos- pitalized. Captain Paul Starks of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department said Monday that security rea- sons prevented him from disclosing the name of the facility where Parler is be- ing held and medical pri- vacy laws prevented him from discussing Parler's health condition. Police contend that Par- ler boarded a bus to visit her boyfriend after leav- ing her son in the woods near their west Philadel- phia home. The boyfriend thought that family mem- bers were watching the son, police said. "She pushes him about 150 yards from the highway into the wooded area, takes him out of wheelchair, lays him on the ground, puts a blanket over him and leaves a Bible with him, and then just walks away," Walker said Saturday. "It's only by the grace of God that he survived this." DISABLED MAN Mom accused of leaving son outside hospitalized Chris' HerbShop (530) 528-2930 333 So. 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