Affordable Care Act, Clinics, Drug Discount Card, Health, Healthcare Reform

Less than 10% of Americans Uninsured

Evan O'Connor May 19, 2016

Over 7 million previously uninsured Americans gained health coverage in 2015 as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka ObamaCare). In a previous blog post, we showed the impact the ACA had since its full expansion in 2014. Since then, the uninsured rate has dropped to single-digits with 9.1% Americans remaining uncovered by insurance, a decline of 2.4% since last year.

The Affordable Care Act has been criticized by Republicans and has led to multiple attempts to repeal the health care law or states refusing to expand Medicaid to help the poorest uninsured Americans. States that have expanded Medicaid are seeing uninsured rates for adults 18-64 years of age around 9.8% compared to 17.5% for non-expansion states. Data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows that 16.2 million fewer Americans are uninsured since the end of 2013.

NeedyMeds’ mission is to help those facing the high costs of health care, no matter what comes of the ACA. For those unable to afford their medications, NeedyMeds has an extensive database of Patient

ACA Insures Over 10 Million People

Evan O'Connor November 11, 2015

Having health insurance is vital to one’s health and financial well-being in the United States. Out-of-pocket medical expenses are the leading cause of personal bankruptcy. Even with new laws such as the Affordable Care Act (ACA)—aka “Obamacare”—11.7% of Americans remain uninsured.

Analysts have only recently been able to examine the data of uninsured rates prior to ACA’s implementation to now. WalletHub released the stats for all 50 states and Washington DC and ranked each by their current uninsured rate; Massachusetts is ranked highest with only 3.28% uninsured, and Texas is ranked last with 19.06%.

In numbers, even the last-ranked state Texas reduced children’s uninsured rate by 23.88% and adult uninsured rate by 19.27% between 2010 and 2014. Even with the current highest rate of uninsured Americans, 827,997 people gained health insurance coverage in Texas in the years being analyzed.

Over 10,000,000 previously uninsured Americans are now covered under the ACA. In a previous

Affordable Care Act Helps Americans Ages 50-64

Evan O'Connor May 27, 2015

In the past five years since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), there have been strong supporters and fierce opponents. No matter what side of the ACA one falls, it’s hard to deny the positive results it has had in some people’s lives. Since 2013, uninsured rate dropped by 31% among Americans ages 50-64.

Elderly Americans are among the most underserved populations in the country, and are at risk of struggling with poverty and disparity in health care. The ACA expanded access to health insurance coverage to 50- to 64-year-olds through several provisions, including expanding eligibility for Medicaid, subsidies for consumers purchasing coverage through the new health insurance Marketplaces, prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage or charging higher rates based on medical history, and restricting how much insurers can increase premiums for older consumers. Prior to the ACA this age group often went without access to health insurance due to high costs, denials based on pre-existing conditions, and limited Medicaid eligibility.

Between December 2013 and December 2014, uninsured rates dropped from 11.6%