What Happened to Obamacare?
Immigration, instability and impeachment has been the Republican narrative against President Obama lately. What about Obamacare? Remember? The sky had fallen. The world was going to end. Remember? It was socialism on steroids and hgh with the other team’s playbook. The descent of America had begun. Remember? We haven’t heard much about Obamacare lately have we? Going into midterms, you figure candidates would be pouncing on it. Why haven’t they?
What Happened?
The Commonwealth Fund, a think tank that supports “better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency” in health care, “particularly for society’s most vulnerable” conducted a poll reaching 4,425 adults by telephone between April 9 and June 2, 2014. Pollsters interviewed a sample of adults between 19 and 64 who had selected a private plan or enrolled in Medicaid due to provisions in the Affordable Care Act, or who have had Medicaid for less than 1 year.
One of the questions was, “Overall, how satisfied are you with this new health insurance?” The poll found that 74 percent of the Republicans who had signed up for health coverage at least in part due to the ACA said they were satisfied — specifically, 30 percent somewhat satisfied and 44 percent very satisfied. That satisfaction rate was slightly lower than it was for Democrats (85 percent) and Independents (82 percent), but still overwhelmingly high.
The uninsured rate for people ages 19 to 64 declined from approximately 20 percent in the July-to-September 2013 period to approximately 15 percent in the April-to-June 2014 period. An estimated 9.5 million fewer adults were uninsured. Young men and women drove a large part of the decline: the uninsured rate for 19-to-34-year-olds declined from 28 percent to 18 percent, with an estimated 5.7 million fewer young adults uninsured. By June, 60 percent of adults with new coverage through the marketplaces or Medicaid reported they had visited a doctor or hospital or filled a prescription; of these, 62 percent said they could not have accessed or afforded this care previously.
Ted Cruz’s worst nightmare has come true. Obamacare is working, as advertised like the President and his cabinet suggested it would, for the vast majority of Americans. That’s why there is no more talk of it. That’s what happened.
