Obamacare: Study highlights key benefit of Affordable Care Act ahead of Supreme Court arguments

The future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare, is expected to be decided sometime in mid-2021 when the Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the law’s “individual mandate” provision after hearing arguments later this year.

Supporters of the ACA have said that if the health care bill were to be overturned, it could lead to “total chaos” as millions of Americans would lose health insurance coverage. And according to a study from the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, the ACA — which became law on March 23, 2010 — seems to have kept some Americans from going bankrupt.

“Our findings suggest that by more robustly providing health insurance coverage for low-income Americans, the ACA has had some effect on the risk of filing for bankruptcy protection,” the report said. “Although future research is still needed to uncover causal mechanisms on the role possessing health insurance may have on an individual’s ultimate decision to file for bankruptcy relief, ... there is no doubt that the presence of uncovered medical bills can contribute to an individual or family’s financial ruin and ultimate decision to file for bankruptcy protection.”

Tara Straw, a senior policy analyst at the center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), said that repealing Obamacare would have a devastating effect on families.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/obamacare-affordable-care-supreme-court-battle-151334822.html