Cartoon – Who do you think is in charge here anyhow?
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Cartoon – Healthcare Reform
Cartoon – Healthcare vs. Health Coverage
The Meaning of ‘Access’ to Health Care
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/01/price-access/514262/
Why Republicans like HHS nominee Tom Price are emphasizing “universal access” over “universal coverage”
Cartoon – Winning People’s Hearts and Minds Today
Cartoon – Prescribing a Generic Placebo
Cartoon – Damning Report
‘Not Turning Back’: California Governor Vows To Protect State’s Health Care
http://khn.org/news/not-turning-back-california-governor-vows-to-protect-states-health-care/
In an unusually impassioned speech, Gov. Jerry Brown vowed Tuesday to protect California’s health care gains under Obamacare against Republican attempts in Washington, D.C., to roll them back.
“More than any other state, California has embraced the Affordable Care Act,” Brown told state legislators and appointees in his annual State of the State address at California’s Capitol. “I intend to join with other Governors and Senators, and with you, to do everything we can to protect the health care of our people.”
Brown said California would not “turn back” on advances it’s made in health coverage under pressure from the new Republican administration in Washington. Under the new federal leadership, he said, the “future is uncertain and dangers abound.”
Health coverage for Californians under the Affordable Care Act “has come with tens of billions of dollars from the federal government,” said Brown. “Were any of that were to be taken away, our state budget would be directly affected, possibly even devastated.”
Leveraging an estimated nearly $20 billion federal money, health coverage has been extended to five million Californians under Obamacare, which includes federally subsidized private health plans and an expansion of eligibility for Medicaid, the program for low-income people — known in this state as Medi-Cal.
Health Law Coverage Has Helped Many Chronically Ill — But Has Still Left Gaps
http://khn.org/news/health-law-coverage-helped-many-chronically-ill-but-still-left-gaps/
As President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress devise a plan to replace the 2010 health law, new research suggests a key component of the law helped people with chronic disease get access to health care — though, the paper notes, it still fell short in meeting their medical needs.
Research published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that the number of chronically ill Americans with insurance increased by about 5 percentage points — around 4 million people — in 2014, the first year the law required Americans to have coverage, set up marketplaces for people to buy coverage and allowed for states to expand eligibility for Medicaid, the federal-state insurance plan for low-income people. If states opted into the Medicaid expansion, people with chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, depression and asthma were more likely to see those gains.
Still, the study suggests, the law fell short in terms of guaranteeing those people could get medical treatment, see a doctor and afford medications.
2017’s States Most Affected by ACA Repeal
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-most-affected-by-aca-repeal/31413/
As promised, President Donald Trump on Jan. 20 issued an executive order to undo the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, as his first order of business. Republican senators wasted no time advancing the president’s agenda, either, using a powerful process known as budget reconciliation on Jan. 12 to begin rolling back large sections of the health law. Passage of the resolution followed in the U.S. House of Representatives two days later.
But much of the public as well as members of Congress, including several Republicans, have expressed concern about both the lack of a replacement for the current program and a clear timeline for its implementation — in addition to the cost of repealing the ACA.
Since former president Barack Obama’s signature health-care legislation — more popularly known as “Obamacare” — was passed in 2010, more than 20 million individuals have gained insurance coverage, resulting in the lowest uninsured rate in history by early 2016. Reversal of the law is expected to raise the uninsured rate by an estimated 18 million in the first plan year following repeal, then 32 million by 2026, according to official estimates.
What is clear from the prospect of the ACA’s dissolution is that certain states stand to suffer more than others. In order to assess repeal’s impact on Americans based on where they live, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across seven key indicators of both economic and coverage losses. Our data set ranges from “growth in uninsured population by 2019 post-ACA repeal” to “potential economic impact due to repeal of premium tax credits and Medicaid expansion (2019 to 2023).” Read on for our findings, expert insight and a full description of our methodology.
