Now that we’ve officially reached the half-year mark since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, you might be wondering whether it’s been effective. In short — though there are still many “what ifs” and “maybes” — the law appears to be doing much of what it was intended to do: to allow more Americans to gain access to affordable health insurance plans, and, as such, to lower the number of people who have been going without it.
A nationwide Gallop survey shows that in North Carolina, the percentage of people without health insurance dropped from about 20 percent last year to about 17 percent as of mid-2014. The results were drawn from a phone poll in which people were asked whether they have health insurance. It’s important to note that the poll did not measure how many of those who say they now have insurance as a result of the ACA had coverage previously, or how many of those who signed up at the end of the enrollment period this spring have actually paid for their premium.
Still, more than 357,000 North Carolinians did sign up for coverage, a total surpassed by only four other states. Many more could have received coverage of some sort had North Carolina expanded Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act. But us and 23 other states run by Republicans refused. The debate over that decision is raging here, fueled by studies that say we are foolishly turning our backs on tens of billions of dollars in potential sources of revenue — while those who oppose expanding Medicaid at the state level say they’ll end up holding a fiscally unfeasible bag for years to come.
Here’s a few of the numbers, according to studies from sources including the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute:
– If North Carolina does not expand Medicaid, it will lose nearly $40 billion in federal funding over the next 10 years. Hospitals here will lose $11.3 billion in federal funding over that same time, money intended to offset their loss of funding for Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement. And the state will lose an estimated $307 million annually that would have come from economic growth caused by the expansion of Medicaid. The North Carolina Hospital Association, for example, estimates the state’s 109 acute-care facilities have laid off at least 2,000 employees as a result of the decision not to expand Medicaid, according to the Associated Press, which reports that expanding Medicaid would actually create an estimated 20,000 jobs statewide.
– By not expanding Medicaid, an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 residents of the state will continue to go without health care coverage of any kind, meaning they will have no choice but to go to emergency rooms for assistance, which is the most expensive means of delivering care and is a cost eventually passed along to taxpayers.
Meanwhile, the General Assembly continues to wrangle over the state budget with a shortfall that many, including Gov. McCrory, have said is largely the fault of the current Medicaid system, which the legislature has so far failed to agree on a restructuring, let alone any possible expansion per the ACA. McCrory has said recently that he is not opposed, in principle, to expanding the state’s system but that it must not “bankrupt” the state.
And so, even while some fellow North Carolinians apparently now have coverage they didn’t have at the beginning of the year, at least the same amount remain out in the cold.
This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2014.
Obamacare is not working. Unless you believe it was intended to cause millions of privately insured people to lose their insurance and doctors. Unless you knew the President was lying when he said it was save the average family $2500 a year.
And let’s not skip over the really ugly part….the Employer Mandate. Obama illegally delayed that (basically indefinitely) to keep 10s of millions of people from being told their employer based policies didn’t live up to the what a bunch of Democrat lawyers think they should be and thus would be cancelled. If allowed to go into effect as Federal Law mandated, it would have resulted in a blood bath for Democrats in November.
Apx 80% of people with insurance get it through their employers. Up to 60% of them sood to have their policies cancelled. Among them a wide range of public and private employees who get their insurance through their unions.
So that about the 30 million who were suffering and dying for lack of healthcare? Less than 10 million have signed up for Obama. Many of those lhad ost their privious policies because of Obamacare. As little as 2 million who signed up for Obamacare previously lacked insurance. We really don’t know as the Obama Administration will not tell us.
To say “The ACA is working” is a black lie. It has been gerrymandered, rigged and delayed to prevent a catastrophic outcome for the Democrats.
Speaking only from my personal acquaintances and experience:
The health insurance provided by small employers and purchased individually is often so riddled with huge deductibles and huge co-pays that it is almost useless. I know several people who thought they had health insurance until they had to use it. I know two people who were left with more than $10,000 in bills after their insurance paid their share. THOSE are the policies that got cancelled. The people who had them were offered new policies to replace them. Right wing radio whiners always forget to mention that. They like weak minded people to believe that the ACA forced millions of people to become uninsured. I know two people who were unable to buy insurance at any price before the Affordable Care Act. I don’t know anyone who was forced to change doctors.
That said, I don’t know why they don’t just put everyone in either Medicare or Medicaid, depending on their circumstances, and let the for profit insurance companies sell medigap policies.