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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsObamacare appears to save a Millennial's life every day
Obamacare appears to save a Millennials life every day
By David Trilling
One provision of the Affordable Care Act the health legislation popularly known as Obamacare allows young people, aged 19 to 25, to be covered by their parents health-insurance plans. The provision is called dependent-care coverage and prior to September 2010, when it came into effect, this age group had one of the highest uninsured rates in the United States. Around 30 percent of these young men and women were uninsured, compared to 16 percent of all Americans, on average.
A new study looks at how this single provision may save hundreds of lives a year.
An academic study worth reading: The Affordable Care Acts Dependent-Care Coverage and Mortality, in Medical Care, 2017.
Study summary: When the ACA dependent-care provision came into effect, coverage rates for this age group rose significantly; 6.6 million individuals gained insurance, according to Census Bureau data.
Chandler McClellan, a health economist at the U.S. government agency that works on substance abuse and mental health, wanted to know if this policy change saved lives in part, as a way of assessing the value of health insurance coverage for policymakers.
He used government data on causes of death from 2008 to 2013, a period that included the adoption of the ACA, and chose individuals aged 19-30. This allowed McClellan to compare the affected group (those aged 19-25) with a natural control unaffected by the coverage expansion: those aged 26-30.
McClellan focused on disease-related mortality, since these conditions are often treatable, yet he also considered other causes of death to fully examine the potential effects of the dependent coverage provision.
His findings suggest that, with insurance, young people are going to the doctor more and getting treatment for conditions before they become fatal.
Key takeaways:
The dependent-care provision was associated with a 6.1 percent decline in disease-related deaths after the provision went into effect about 30 fewer deaths per month or 357 per year among Americans aged 19-25.
Most of the lives saved are due to reductions in deaths related to cardiovascular, cancer, and other disease-related causes.
The dependent-care provision did not significantly impact deaths from other causes, such as accidents, which remain a more frequent cause of death for this age group. Federal law requires emergency rooms to treat emergencies regardless of ones insurance. McClellan found no change in death rates from trauma, suggesting that it is the health insurance expansion that is driving the reduction in disease-related deaths.
In both age groups, men, white people and non-Hispanics make up a larger share of deaths.
Men experienced the largest reductions in overall disease-related and cancer-related mortality, with 8.1 percent and 12.2 percent reductions, respectively, while cardiovascular deaths [such as heart attacks] among women fell by 11.7 percent.
White people, overall, experienced a 14.6 percent decline in cardiovascular mortality.
McClellan expects larger declines in mortality later because medical care has a cumulative effect; chronic diseases become better managed when people have health insurance.
Though the author cautions that he cannot prove causality, he says he cannot identify other factors that explain these results.
more... https://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/health-care/obamacare-millennials-save-lives-death
The Wielding Truth
(11,415 posts)Then universal health-care has to be brought in to save even more lives.
Cha
(297,723 posts)health care.. no one else was able to get it done. Great to hear the success stories instead of all the whining about it.
That's not all President Obama did..
Mahalo, Madam
Madam45for2923
(7,178 posts)Cha
(297,723 posts)Blast from the Past.
spooky3
(34,483 posts)And I mean that.
Vinca
(50,310 posts)funding that helped to pay for the coverage of actual sick people. If we had single-payer, that wouldn't be an issue, but we don't. We live in a country that mysteriously supports big insurance. If you don't pick up their loss of profits from covering people who need medical care they'll bail.