Wis. says nearly 166,000 people gained insurance coverage; unknown how many were uninsured

Newly released numbers by the state Insurance Commissioner's office shows that nearly 166,000 Wisconsin residents purchased health insurance by June 1.

But it's not known how many of those people were previously uninsured.

Gov. Scott Walker has promised to cut in half the number of uninsured people in Wisconsin, which stood at about 556,000 in March.

Of the 166,000 people, nearly 134,000 became covered through plans purchased on the federal exchange.

Deputy Insurance Commissioner Dan Schwartzer said Wednesday while it's not known how many of them didn't have insurance before, he believes the state is well on the way toward meeting Walker's goals.

Other new figures show only about 19,000 Medicaid recipients out of about 63,000 who lost their coverage this year purchased private plans on the exchange.