Worst Republican fears about Obamacare realized: it's helping people

Worst Republican fears about Obamacare realized: it's helping people

by Joan McCarter at the Daily Kos

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/4/18/1516931/-Worst-Republican-fears-about-Obamacare-realized-It-s-helping-people

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The Times's analysis shows that by the end of that first full year, 2014, so many low-income people gained coverage that it halted the decades-long expansion of the gap between the haves and the have-nots in the American health insurance system, a striking change at a time when disparities between rich and poor are growing in many areas.

"The law has clearly reduced broad measures of inequality," said David Cutler, an economics professor at Harvard, who served in the Clinton administration and advised the 2008 Obama campaign on health issues. "These are people who blend into the background of the economy. They are cleaning your hotel room, making your sandwich. The law has helped this population enormously."

Besides immigrant populations, the most vulnerable people outside of the Medicare and Medicaid populations had the most gains: part-timer workers, people with high school degrees, people in extended family households, all gained insurance at sometimes double the rates of full-time workers, college graduates, and traditional households. Some of the numbers: there was an increase of 7.2 percent in Hispanics gaining insurance between 2013-14; 6.1 percent among Native Americans; 5.1 percent of African Americans; and 5.4 percent of Asians. The gains for African Americans would have been much higher if all states—particularly southern, Republican states where their population is concentrated—had accepted Medicaid expansion.

But the benefits for low income communities and communities of color are still very clear. Here's what that actually means for health care, with St. John’s Well Child and Family Center in South Los Angeles as an example: 18,000 new patients, a 44 percent increase in cervical cancer screenings; a 25 percent increase in stop-smoking programs; and a 22 percent increase in patients who have controlled their hypertension.


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