These states’ citizens will suffer if Supreme Court cripples Obamacare
There was great news this week. The Affordable Care Act, Obamacare signed up 11.7 million Americans on the Health Insurance Exchanges. That’s 11.7 million more Americans who now know that their medical bills will not bankrupt them. That’s 11.7 million more Americans who know they can get preventative medical care. That’s 11.7 million more Americans that do not have to worry that they are unable to get health insurance because of a preexisting condition.
It is a fact that Obamacare is reducing the cost of health care. It is a fact that Obamacare is dramatically lowering the uninsured rates. This is most pronounced in Red States and poor states.
The Gallup report concluded the following.
While a majority of Americans continue to disapprove of the Affordable Care Act, it has clearly had an impact in reducing the uninsured rate in the U.S., which declined to its lowest point in seven years by the last quarter of 2014. This trend could be poised to continue, as 55% of Americans who remain uninsured plan to get health insurance rather than pay a fine.
States that have implemented two of the law’s core mechanisms — Medicaid expansion and state health exchanges — are seeing a substantially larger drop in the uninsured rate than states that did not take both of these actions. Consequently, the gap in uninsured rates that existed between these two groups in 2013 nearly doubled in 2014.
Obamacare truths. It’s about time Chuck Todd
Chuck Todd and Meet The Press finally came clean on Obamacare albeit less stinging to Republican failures as it should have been. He started the piece noting that the Supreme Court case, King v. Burwell, could severely damage the law.
The Wall Street Journal reported the following reality that should give Texas, Florida, and North Carolina, and every red state without a health insurance exchange pause on their anti Obamacare stance.
Florida, North Carolina and Texas would be among the states hardest hit if their health-insurance subsidies are struck down by the Supreme Court. Those states had the highest number of consumers who were eligible for tax credits when selecting a plan on the federal HealthCare.gov website, government data show. …
In Florida, about 1.6 million people who picked a plan on the federal site were eligible for financial assistance, according to the new report. In Texas, more than one million were eligible; in North Carolina, more than 550,000; and in Pennsylvania, more than 430,000.
If the Supreme Court rules against Obamacare Republican governors and legislatures will have a lot to answer for. It will be a direct financial hit on millions of their constituents.
These governors fight valiantly for the subsidies of oil companies and other corporations yet they support denying their own citizens subsidies for life saving health care? These governors will have to decide which is more important, their failed ideology or the well-being of their citizens.