Dive Brief:
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The number of Americans with insurance coverage and having a medical check-up increased while having to skip doctor visits became less common following the implementation of ACA provisions in 2014, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
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Health coverage improved from 83% to 89% in states that expanded Medicaid, though only from 77% to 81% in states that did not.
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Despite improvements, about 1 in 5 African Americans and 1 in 3 Hispanics with a chronic disease still lacked health coverage.
Dive Insight:
Researchers used "nationally representative data" of more than 600,000 American adults with a chronic condition, such as asthma, cancer, arthritis and a history of heart attack or stroke, to determine the how the ACA has had an effect on their care.
Although the study’s outcomes varied from state to state, the most dramatic improvements were seen in states that had expanded Medicaid. This issue is particularly important because of the high cost of untreated or undertreated chronic conditions. “Patients with chronic diseases need to get regular medical care and take medications daily to prevent serious complications,” study author Elisabeth Poorman, a primary care physician at the Cambridge Health Alliance, said in a prepared statement.
Should the ACA be repealed without a replacement, millions of newly insured patients with chronic health conditions – some life-threatening – could lose their coverage, reversing the gains observed in the study and endangering their health.
The authors suggest that the replacement plan most likely to provide both coverage and access to care for those with a chronic illness would be a “comprehensive Medicare-for-All” plan. But they note that while that approach has support from the American people, it lacks support from Congress and the White House.