Given the massive backlash/debate going on over the impending (supposed) repeal of the Affordable Care Act, there seems to be one particular fact which a huge number of Obamacare opponents (and even many supporters of the law) don't seem to be aware of.
One of the big talking points among ACA opponents is "Why should my hard-earned tax dollars go to subsidize someone else's lazy ass?"
Now, aside from the fact that a) "being self-employed" or b) "happening to have a job which doesn't offer health benefits" or c) "being married to/a child of either a) or b)" hardly makes one "lazy", there's something which these folks should know:
nearly everyone's healthcare coverage is heavily taxpayer subsidized.
Assuming 310,000 people enroll in private exchange policies by the end of January, I estimate around 207,000 of them would be forced off of their private policy upon an immediate-effect full ACA repeal, plus another 532,000 enrolled in the ACA Medicaid expansion program, for a total of 739,000 New Jersey residents kicked to the curb.
Thanks to Louise Norris for providing this report which breaks out the Medicaid expansion numbers by county. It's worth noting that like New York, New Jersey will also see more people lose Medicaid coverage post-ACA repeal than technically signed up "because" of the law because they, too, had previously partly expanded Medicaid via a pre-ACA waiver which has since expired. Unlike New York, however, in New Jersey's case I had already baked the larger number into my estimates anyway, so it hasn't changed anything.
As for the individual market, my standard methodology applies:
As I noted when I crunched the numbers for Texas, it's actually easier to figure out how many people would lose coverage if the ACA is repealed in non-expansion states because you can't rip away healthcare coverage from someone who you never provided it to in the first place.
As I noted when I crunched the numbers for Texas, it's actually easier to figure out how many people would lose coverage if the ACA is repealed in non-expansion states because you can't rip away healthcare coverage from someone who you never provided it to in the first place.
As I noted when I crunched the numbers for Texas, it's actually easier to figure out how many people would lose coverage if the ACA is repealed in non-expansion states because you can't rip away healthcare coverage from someone who you never provided it to in the first place.
As I noted when I crunched the numbers for Texas, it's actually easier to figure out how many people would lose coverage if the ACA is repealed in non-expansion states because you can't rip away healthcare coverage from someone who you never provided it to in the first place.
A few days ago I noted that MNsure, Minnesota's ACA exchange, has skyrocketed from last place to first in terms of achieving my personal OE4 enrollment targets, having enrolled 103,578 people in Qualified Health Plans (QHPs), plus another 19,960 in MinnesotaCare (MN's BHP program) and 65,164 in Medicaid.
Yestrerday they updated their numbers once again:
That's a further increase of 3,009 Minnesotans in QHPs in the past week or so. MN has already blown past my original projection (86K) and has reached 92% of my revised target (116K).
As I noted when I crunched the numbers for Texas, it's actually easier to figure out how many people would lose coverage if the ACA is repealed in non-expansion states because you can't rip away healthcare coverage from someone who you never provided it to in the first place.
As I noted when I crunched the numbers for Texas, it's actually easier to figure out how many people would lose coverage if the ACA is repealed in non-expansion states because you can't rip away healthcare coverage from someone who you never provided it to in the first place.
A few days ago I had the honor of joining healthcare reporter Jonathan Cohn and healthcare patient advocate Amy Lynn Smith as a guest on The Sit & Spin Room, a podcast presented by Michigan's best political website, Eclectablog, featuring hosts Chris Savage and the mysterious @LOLGOP.
Cohn is the guest for the first half-hour, while Smith and I join in for the remaining hour of the show.
