ICYMI: ACA Enhancements Provide ‘Cheaper Premiums And Expanded Eligibility’

WASHINGTON – Providing additional evidence that improving upon the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is an effective way of increasing access to affordable, high-quality health coverage and care, The Wall Street Journal reports on the “cheaper premiums and expanded eligibility” for Americans under the American Rescue Plan Act’s (ARPA) ACA enhancements.

• New Cost Savings & Improved Eligibility:
  • “The ACA changes, coupled with a special enrollment period that launched in February, have brought cheaper premiums and expanded eligibility to some of the nearly 27 million newly unemployed workers and their family members who have lost job-related health coverage during the pandemic, based on Kaiser Family Foundation estimates. Some have since found employment and may be getting job-based coverage.”
  • “Nearly 1.4 million uninsured people have become newly eligible for the ACA’s subsidiesfollowing revisions to the health law through pandemic relief legislation passed in March. In addition, many people who already have plans have seen their premiums reduced. The changes marked the biggest overhaul to the health law since its passage in 2010, and have resulted in consumers saving an average of $70 a month, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.”

• Real Americans are Seeing Prices Decrease
  • The most recent changes to the ACA have helped Americans like Shandon Fowler of Mount Pleasant, S.C. After previously paying about $390 a month for a health plan that covered his family of six, he is now only paying about $55 a month.

• Most Are Satisfied With Their Health Coverage:
  • “Seventy-four percent of Americans in 2020 rated their healthcare coverage as excellent or good this year, the highest measured to date, according to Gallup polling.”

• Momentum Is Growing To Make ACA Enhancements Permanent:
  • President Biden proposes “to make the lower ACA premiums, which are slated to end after 2022, permanent.”

Newly released research also supports ACA enhancements as an effective way to expand access to affordable, high-quality health coverage and care:

• The number of uninsured Americans would fall significantly under an enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) model, with roughly 8.1 million (30 percent) and 9.6 million (34 percent) fewer Americans uninsured after ACA enhancements in 2023 and 2032, respectively. (KNG Health Consulting, 5/17/21)

To learn more about the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, CLICK HERE.