Since President Barack Obama’s health care law expanded coverage, not only do more Americans have health insurance, but the number struggling with medical costs has dropped since President Barack Obama.
The study was carried out by the Commonwealth Fund and released on Thursday. The New York based Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation dedicated to expanding coverage and improving the quality and cost-effectiveness of the health care system. While those goals generally align with Obama’s health care law, the group is nonpartisan.
The Commonwealth Fund’s biennial health insurance survey found that the share of U.S. adults who did not get much needed care because cost dropped from 43% in 2012 to 36% in 2013. 2013 was the year that the health care law’s main coverage expansion went into full swing.
The number of people who got treatment but had problems paying their bills also dropped from 41% in 2012 to 35% last year.
The study discovered that this was the first time that either measure of financial problems declined since the survey began its questioning in 2003 and 2005, respectively.
According to the study, the expansion of insurance coverage has helped people get the care they need by reducing financial barrier to care.
The findings come at an important juncture for Obama’s law, as the Supreme Court prepares to hear another challenge from opponents committed to rolling it back. Republicans in charge of Congress are also planning more repeal votes.
Plaintiff’s in the court case claim that the law as construed only allows the federal government to subsidize coverage in states that have set up their own insurance markets. Supporters of the law say that although the wording is convoluted, Congress intended for subsidies to be available across the country, regardless of sate actions.
