- Should States Integrate Health Insurance Exchanges and Medicaid?
- What is the Link Between Having Health Insurance and Enjoying Better Health and Finances?
- What are the Effects of the Individual Mandate?
- What are the Recent Trends for Children's Participation in Medicaid and CHIP?
- What proven strategies help maximize enrollment in public health insurance programs?
Health Insurance Coverage
The Issue:
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 51 million Americans, including 7 million children, are uninsured. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will expand health coverage to more than 30 million of these uninsured Americans, but this potential will only be realized through comprehensive and effective implementation of its many coverage-related provisions.
Why This Matters:
- Uninsured people live sicker and die sooner than others. An estimated 18,000 - 22,000 Americans die each year because they don't have health coverage.
- Many of the key provisions of the law leave it up to state leaders to determine how provisions will be implemented. As a result these leaders will decide how effective the new law will be in providing Americans with access to comprehensive, affordable coverage. As part of the implementation process state and federal policymakers will continue to make key decisions that will affect how many Americans have health insurance.
- Nearly 5 million children who are uninsured are eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). These children do not need to wait until ACA is implemented to get covered, and there are efforts under way right now to make sure they get insured.
Policy Context:
In addition to providing health coverage to more than 30 million previously uninsured Americans, the ACA introduces major changes to the insurance market, beginning in 2014. Insurers will no longer be able to discriminate based on health status or gender, cap benefits or rescind coverage retroactively.
People from communities of color are more likely to be uninsured. In 2009, 32.4 percent of Hispanics; 21 percent of African Americans; and 17.2 percent of Asians were uninsured compared with 12 percent of non-Hispanic whites.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Health Insurance Coverage Research
- Examining the Evidentiary Basis of Congress's Commerce Clause Power To Address Individuals' Health Insurance Status
The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., 02/08/12 - Small Firms' Actions in Two Areas, and Exchange Premium and Enrollment Impact
Health Affairs, 02/08/12 - Regulating Stop--Loss Coverage May Be Needed to Deter Self-Insuring Small Employers from Undermining Market Reforms
Health Affairs, 02/08/12 - Employers and the Exchanges Under the Small Business Health Options Program: Examining the Potential and the Pitfalls
Health Affairs, 02/08/12 - The Case for the Individual Mandate in Health Care Reform
Center for American Progress, 02/08/12