Obamacare – Who Benefits?

This is the second in a series on Obamacare.  The first, Obamacare – What Is It? can be found here. This installment goes over who is benefiting currently under Obamacare.

You may wonder, isn’t the answer obviously Americans that didn’t have health insurance before Obamacare took effect in 2013? Of course that is true but Obamacare is benefiting many more people and institutions. We’ll start with the obvious answer and run through some of the beneficiaries of Obamacare that aren’t as well known.

• 2o million more people now have health insurance than in 2010 when Obamacare was signed into law.
  • 6.1 young adults (18-25) are covered under their parents policies
  • 7 million more adults and children are covered by Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program than in 2010.
  • The percentage of the US population that is uninsured is at an all time low of 8.6%. This is down from an all time high in 2013 of 18%.
  • This insurance allows patients to receive ongoing preventative treatment for chronic health and mental illnesses.
• Less expensive (both cost of care and costs related to lost work time) outpatient care alternatives are available;
  • Previously many insurance policies did not cover outpatient options.
  • Uninsured individuals often only received care in extreme emergencies through expensive emergency room visits and hospital stays.
• Hospitals especially safety net hospitals that serve America’s poor and low income are benefiting. Some like Chicago’s Cook County Health & Hospitals System made a profit for the first time in 180 years.
  • Even as hospitals have certain federal Medicaid payments cut under Obamacare increased insurance coverage has resulted in fewer bad debts.
• Doctors can now deliver preventative and ongoing care for patients with chronic illness(mental and/or physically) who were previously uninsured or under insured.
• Insured women now have access to 18 different birth control options at no charge. This is helping prevent expensive pregnancies (possibly unwanted) and other medical conditions that birth control is prescribed for.
• Seniors are beginning to benefit from closing “the donut hole” in Medicare Part D drug coverage. This results in lower overall prescription drug costs for seniors.

Next up – What is wrong with Obamacare.