Ahead of the third open enrollment period of the federal and state-level health insurance marketplaces, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell revealed more than 17 million Americans have benefited from the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Based on analysis, Burwell said 17.6 million people have gained medical coverage since the ACA's first provisions were implemented in 2010. The HHS noted approximately 10.5 million people, however, are still uninsured yet eligible for coverage. During a speech at Howard University College of Medicine, Burwell said the first five years of the ACA shows the law is working to deliver affordable and quality health access and coverage.

In the HHS' ASPE Data Point report, the uninsured rate decreased due to three factors: "allowing young people up to age 26 to stay on their parents' plans, the Medicaid expansion in 29 states plus DC, and the availability of affordable insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplaces."

The report also noted an 11.5 percent drop of uninsured Latino adults between October 2013 and Sept. 12, 2015. HHS stated four million Latinos have gained health coverage, higher than the 2.6 million within the black community, which equated to a 10.3 percent drop in uninsured rates.

More white adults gained coverage, with 7.4 million, although it equated to 6 percent.

"Five years in, millions of people have new coverage and the percentage of the uninsured has been reduced to the lowest level on record," Burwell said in a statement.

"We now have a new opportunity before us to build on this progress. We know current Marketplace customers are satisfied with their coverage, and we expect most to continue with it. We also believe we can continue to connect people with the coverage they need and further decrease the number of Americans without health insurance."

The third open enrollment period starts on Nov. 1, and Burwell said it will be a "tougher" year than 2014.

"But while those remaining uninsured may be harder to reach, we're working smarter to reach them. We know Americans are depending on us, and we're doing everything we can to help them find the coverage they need," Burwell said.

The HHS named five "target areas" to improve outreach, including Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Miami and northern New Jersey. The aforementioned "target areas" have high uninsured Americans, but are also home to sizeable Latino populations.

"We're thrilled that 17.6 million uninsured Americans have gained coverage thanks in large part to the Affordable Care Act, which has fulfilled its promise of expanding health coverage for millions across the country," Enroll America President Anne Filipic said.

"It's especially encouraging to see significant declines in the uninsured rate among African-Americans and Latinos, an important step towards eliminating the historic disparities in access to health coverage between communities of color and their white counterparts."

HHS said nearly one-third of the uninsured are people of color, notably Latinos with 19 percent, followed by 14 percent for blacks and 2 percent for Asian Americans.

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