THE FACTS ON THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
FACT #1: 20 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE GAINED COVERAGE, BRINGING THE UNINSURED RATE TO RECORD LOWS, AND SAVED THOUSANDS OF LIVES
More Than 20 Million People Have Coverage From The ACA. “More than 20 million people are covered by the two major components of former President Barack Obama’s health care law: expanded Medicaid and subsidized private health insurance.” [Associated Press, 2/24/17]
In 2016, The Uninsured Rate Fell To 8.8 Percent. “In the first 9 months of 2016, 28.2 million (8.8%) persons of all ages were uninsured at the time of interview—20.4 million fewer persons than in 2010 and 0.4 million fewer persons than in 2015 (a nonsignificant difference).” [Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, February 2017]
Since The ACA, There Were Approximately 50,000 Fewer Patient Deaths In Hospitals. “Preliminary estimates for 2013 show a further 9 percent decline in the rate of hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) from 2012 to 2013, and a 17 percent decline, from 145 to 121 HACs per 1,000 discharges, from 2010 to 2013. A cumulative total of 1.3 million fewer HACs were experienced by hospital patients over the 3 years (2011, 2012, 2013) relative to the number of HACs that would have occurred if rates had remained steady at the 2010 level. We estimate that approximately 50,000 fewer patients died in the hospital as a result of the reduction in HACs, and approximately $12 billion in health care costs were saved from 2010 to 2013.” [Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2013 Annual Hospital-Acquired Condition Rate and Estimates]
FACT #2: THE ACA HAS BROUGHT FAMILIES MORE FINANCIAL SECURITY
More People Are Able To Purchase Coverage On Their Own And Get The Care They Need. There have been dramatic improvements in people’s ability to buy health plans on their own following the passage of the ACA. For adults with family incomes less than $48,500, uninsured rates dropped about 17 percentage points below their 2010 peak. Lower-income whites, blacks, and Latinos have experienced drops this large, though Latinos are uninsured at higher rates. Among working-age adults who had shopped for plans in the individual market and ACA marketplaces over the prior three years, the percentage who reported it was very difficult to find affordable plans fell by nearly half from 2010, prior to the ACA reforms, to 2016. Coverage gains are helping working-age Americans get the care they need: the number of adults who reported problems getting needed health care and filling prescriptions because of costs fell from a high of 80 million in 2012 to an estimated 63 million in 2016.” [Findings from the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey, 2016]
In 2016, 72 Percent Of Marketplace Consumers Were Able To Find A Plan For Less Than $75 Per Month With Financial Assistance. “72 percent of Marketplace consumers in states using HealthCare.gov could find plans with a premium of less than $75 per month and 77 percent could find plans with premiums below $100, taking into account financial assistance. Eighty-five percent of current Marketplace consumers receive tax credits that bring down the cost of coverage, and, nationwide, about the same percentage of Marketplace- eligible uninsured Americans also have incomes that could qualify them for tax credits. Tax credits increase dollar-for-dollar with the cost of a consumer’s benchmark plan, so they protect the large majority of consumers from rate increases.” [HHS Press Release, 10/24/16]
Average Premium For Family With Employer Coverage Was $3,600 Lower In 2016 Than Projected In 2010. “The average premium for a family with employer coverage was almost $3,600 lower in 2016 than if premium growth since 2010 had matched the decade preceding the Affordable Care Act. [Council of Economic Advisors Blog, 9/14/16]
11 Million People On Medicare Have Saved An Average $2,000 On Prescription Drugs Because The ACA Phased Out The “Donut Hole.” “It phases out the “donut hole” coverage gap for over 11 million Medicare prescription drug beneficiaries, who have saved an average of more than $2,000 per beneficiary through July 2016.” [White House, 10/20/16]
The ACA Has “Significantly” Reduced The Number Of Unpaid Medical Bills And Debt For Those Who Gained Coverage From Medicaid Expansion. “We examine the effect of the Medicaid expansions under the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) on financial outcomes using credit report data for a large sample of individuals. We employ the synthetic control method (Abadie et al., 2010) to compare individuals living in states that expanded Medicaid to those that did not. We find that the Medicaid expansions significantly reduced the number of unpaid bills and the amount of debt sent to third-party collection agencies among those residing in zip codes with the highest share of low income, uninsured individuals. Our estimates imply a reduction in collection balances of around $600 to $1,000 among those who gain Medicaid coverage due to the ACA. Our findings suggest that the ACA Medicaid expansions had important financial impacts beyond health care use.” [National Bureau of Economic Research, April 2016]
FACT #3: NEARLY 80 PERCENT OF CONSUMERS WERE ABLE TO CHOOSE FROM MULTIPLE PLANS
Nearly 80 Percent Of Consumers Were Able To Choose From Multiple Issuers. For 2017 coverage, “consumers on HealthCare.gov had the option of choosing from over 30 plans. Four out of five (79 percent of) consumers were also able to choose between multiple issuers, and consumers were able to choose among plans with different combinations of premiums, out-of-pocket costs, networks of hospitals and physicians, and prescription drug coverage options. For people with employer-sponsored health insurance, plan choice is typically narrower; for example, in 2015, 30 percent of people with employer coverage had only one plan option.” [HHS Press Release, 10/24/16]
FACT #4: HEALTH CARE COSTS HAVE RISEN AT THE SLOWEST RATE IN HALF A CENTURY
WSJ: “Medical-Price Inflation Is at Slowest Pace in 50 Years” [WSJ, 9/7/13]
FACT #5: HEALTH COVERAGE IS MORE SECURE FOR MILLIONS BECAUSE OF THE ACA’S CONSUMER PROTECTIONS
Up To 129 Million People — Or 1 In 2 Americans — Have A Pre-Existing Condition And Can No Longer Be Denied Coverage. “As many as 82 million Americans with employer-based coverage have a pre-existing condition, ranging from life-threatening illnesses like cancer to chronic conditions like diabetes, asthma, or heart disease. Without the Affordable Care Act, such conditions limit the ability to obtain affordable health insurance if they become self-employed, take a job with a company that does not offer coverage, or experience a change in life circumstance, such as divorce, retirement, or moving to a different state. Older Americans between ages 55 and 64 are at particular risk: 48 to 86 percent of people in that age bracket have some type of pre-existing condition. And 15 to 30 percent of people in perfectly good health today are likely to develop a pre-existing condition over the next eight years, severely limiting their choices without the protections of the Affordable Care Act.” [HHS, 11/1/11]
Women Can No Longer Be Charged More Than Men. [Kaiser Family Foundation, 10/14/13]
105 Million People No Longer Face Lifetime Limits On Their Care. “Overall, we estimated that 70 million persons in large employer plans, 25 million persons in small employer plans, and 10 million persons with individually purchased health insurance had lifetime limits on their health benefits prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act. These 105 million Americans now enjoy improved coverage without lifetime limits.” [HHS ASPE Issue Brief, March 2012]
137 Million People Received No-Cost Preventive Services. “The federal HHS Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) estimates that approximately 137 million people (55.6 million women, 53.5 million men, and 28.5 million children) have received no-cost coverage for preventive services since the policy went into effect.” [Kaiser Family Foundation, 8/4/15]
BONUS FACT: SINCE THE ACA WAS SIGNED, BUSINESSES HAVE CREATED MORE THAN 15 MILLION JOBS
Meaghan Rose Smith
Vice President SKDKnickerbocker
202.464.6968 (O) 503.358.2123 (C)
Twitter: @MeaghanRSmith | [email protected]