How is the US doing in terms of health insurance coverage?
How is the US doing in terms of health insurance coverage? September 18, 2017
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed in 2010. Since then, there have been several attempts to revise various parts of the act. Just recently, a number of new plans have been debated and defeated in Congress, leaving the ACA intact.
Though the intent of the ACA was to offer healthcare coverage for everyone, the question among many physicians and their patients continues to be where the US is now in terms of health insurance coverage. The Commonwealth Fund recently published a brief, “Following the ACA Repeal-and-Replace Effort, Where Does the U.S. Stand on Insurance Coverage?” Findings from the Commonwealth Fund Affordable Care Act Tracking Survey, March–June 2017,” that explores this question further.
The survey found that 14% of American adults do not have health insurance currently, a figure that has not changed significantly from the previous year. Of those uninsured adults, approximately half probably qualify for subsidies for their health insurance costs. The rate of uninsured adults is less than the 20 percent that were uninsured before ACA’s open enrollment period began in 2013.
In regard to the healthcare marketplace, the survey found that 40% of those uninsured adults were actually unaware of its existence. Those adults who are participating in the marketplace for their healthcare insurance with “incomes below 250 percent of poverty are much more likely to view their premiums as easy to afford compared with people with higher incomes.”
Elation Health continues to monitor the state of the healthcare coverage in the US. We are focused on helping independent physicians navigate healthcare policy to ensure quality care for their patients and success for their business. Elation’s mission has always been to help bridge the chasm between the world of policy and payers, and the world of the front-line physician.