Obamacare is helping just more than people's health

[applegrove]

Obamacare is helping just more than people's health

by Joan McCarter at the Daily Kos

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/4/23/1518940/-Obamacare-is-helping-just-more-than-people-s-health

"SNIP...............


Way back when, in 2009-10 when the Affordable Care Act was being talked about, reducing medical debt was one of those things that was a primary goal of the legislation being drafted. It was touted as part of what the law was going to accomplish once it finally passed and was signed. And it appears to be, at least for a chunk of folks, working that way.

President Obama's health-care reform law made government health insurance available to more people living in poverty or near poverty by expanding Medicaid. The hope was to improve people's physical health, but new research shows an important effect on financial health: The law has helped many poor Americans pay off the collection agent.

The analysis, conducted by a team of university researchers and members of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, estimates that those who signed up for Medicaid under the law reduced their collection balances by $600 to $1,000 each.

The financial benefits of Obamacare for the poor are an "underappreciated" aspect of the law, said economist Robert Kaestner of the University of Illinois at Chicago, who is one of the authors of the new study. "Health insurance, like any type of insurance, is first and foremost a form of financial protection," he said. "It is a real benefit."




..............SNIP"

[Agnosticsherbet]

1. Bringing health care and improving the financial lives of the poor.

This puts into perspective Republicans 60+ attempts to repeal the ACA, and Trumps call to repeal the ACA.

It is another attack on the poor.

[applegrove]

2. They want more desperation. They want to cleave the rich from the desperate and do away with the

middle class in the process. They want to be free of democracy and the obligations that entails.