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At the dawn of 2021, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is poised to continue to be central to the health and wellbeing of millions of Americans. A review of recent headlines from across the nation demonstrates its lasting importance. A study published in Health Affairs, a leading, peer-reviewed healthcare policy journal, found that the ACA reduced income inequality in the United States and that “the decrease was much larger in states that expanded Medicaid than in states that did not.” In Oklahoma, Oklahoma Watch, a non-profit outlet for investigative journalism, reported that “[m]ore Oklahomans than ever before will be covered by health insurance purchased off of the Affordable Care Act exchange when new plans took effect on Jan. 1.” In Texas, ACA enrollment jumped 15% for 2021 according to the Houston Chronicle, while the Texas Tribune reports that Texans living with disabilities fret that without the ACA, they would lose access to the programs that allow them to live indepently. Taking all of this into account, it is no surprise that the ACA’s approval rating is tied for its all-time high.
In Health Affairs, authors Matthew Buettgens, Fredric Blavin, and Clare Pan created a study that “simulated the impact of the ACA on income inequality in 2019 compared with a scenario without the ACA.” In addition to their finding that the ACA reduced income inequality generally, the authors additionally noted that the ACA reduced inequality both across and within groups defined by race/ethnicity, age, and “family educational attainment.” The authors caution that, in light of the Supreme Court case examining the constitutionality of the ACA, a full repeal of the ACA would reverse the reduction in inequality observed in their study.
Residents of Oklahoma continue to demonstrate their support of the ACA. In the summer of 2020, Oklahoma joined dozens of other states and the District of Columbia in expanding Medicaid under the ACA. As Trusaic observed at the time, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority projected that more than 200,000 new enrollees may sign up for coverage. Now we know that Oklahomans set an enrollment record under the states ACA health care exchange. Looking at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Federal Health Insurance Exchange Weekly Snapshot, Oklahoma Watch reports that “more than 171,100 Oklahoma residents enrolled in health plans purchased through the marketplace during the open enrollment period that ended Dec. 15.” Notably, this figure constitutes an 8% enrollment increase.
Like Oklahoma, Texas also experienced a major jump in ACA enrollment, with nearly 1.3 million people signing up for ACA plans. At the same time, Texas officials are “leading a group of conservative states, with the backing of outgoing President Donald Trump, in a legal battle to have the sprawling health care law struck down,” reports the Texas Tribune. But the ACA is critical to the wellbeing of Texas citizens, as Texas opted into the “Community First Choice Option,” an ACA program which “allows States to provide home and community-based attendant services and supports to eligible Medicaid enrollees under their State Plan.” Texans living with disabilities worry, according to the Texas Tribune, that they will lose access to the resources that support their living independently.
As Americans across the country begin a new year, one that is already promising major changes, recent headlines illustrate just how central the ACA is to millions of lives.
