The Affordable Care Act Turns 10. Imagine the COVID-19 Pandemic Without It.
“If there had been no Affordable Care Act, we would have 20 million more people without insurance,” says Kaiser Health’s Julie Rovner.
The current coronavirus pandemic has instigated renewed scrutiny of the country’s health care system.
“Right now there are people with insurance who are afraid to seek health care because they’re afraid of how much it’s going to cost them. It’s a big problem.”
Amid this pandemic the Affordable Care Act celebrates its ten-year anniversary. Reflection and examination of the landmark legislation takes on another level of context in the time of COVID-19.
How has the Affordable Care Act shaped the nation’s response to the pandemic and what’s the future of a law consistently in peril?
Click on the player above to hear Kaiser Health’s Julie Rovner on the Affordable Care Act anniversary and its impact on the nation’s COVID-19 response.
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Guest
Julie Rovner, Chief Washington Correspondent of Kaiser Health News, says the Affordable Care Act has greatly impacted the nation’s response to the novel coronavirus.
“If there had been no Affordable Care Act, we would have 20 million more people without insurance,” says Rovner.
The Trump administration is “supporting the elimination of the law while using it in this crisis.”
With that insurance, Rovner adds, doctors and hospitals get paid and can sustain themselves. Notwithstanding insurance improvements, ten years after the inaction of the Affordable Care Act there are still glaring issues with the current state of the health care in America.
“Right now there are people with insurance who are afraid to seek health care because they’re afraid of how much it’s going to cost them. It’s a big problem,” says Rovner.
The Affordable Care Act has faced countless legal challenges and another appeal to the law is currently before the Supreme Court.
The Trump administration is in support of the challenge and would like to see the law abolished and replaced. While in vocal opposition to the law, the federal government is, at the same time, considering expanding open enrollment during the coronavirus pandemic. Rovner says the administration’s stance on the law is pretty ironic and may be subject to change.
“They are supporting the elimination of the law while using it in this crisis,” says Rovner.
