An additional 24 million Americans will be uninsured by 2021 if the Affordable Care Act is repealed after the 2016 election, according to a new report.
The report, published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute, says approximately 14.5 million fewer people will be covered by Medicaid, 8.8 million fewer will have marketplace or individual insurance coverage and 700,000 fewer people will have employer-based health insurance if the ACA unravels.
A bill to repeal the ACA passed the Senate and House late last year--but then was vetoed by President Barack Obama. But healthcare and coverage options for Americans have been a focal point in the 2016 election cycle and, depending on the outcome, the ACA could be repealed entirely, according to the report.
If that happens, the report says that:
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The number of uninsured in Medicaid expansion states would increase by 107 percent and 59 percent for states not accepting expansion
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81 percent of those losing coverage would be a part of working families
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66 percent would, at the highest level of education, have a high school diploma
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40 percent would be young
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50 percent would be white
In the end, if the healthcare law is gone, federal health spending would drop $927 billion between 2017 and 2026, according to the report. State spending, though, would increase $68.5 billion due to a larger uninsured population who are unable to pay for their care.
Recently, though, House Republicans have proposed more minor changes to the ACA instead of rallying to repeal it entirely. One Democratic lawmaker, however, argued during a recent hearing that the proposals are merely to benefit health insurers and not consumers, FierceHealthPayer has reported.
To learn more:
- read the report