For the fourth consecutive year, fewer Americans are reportedly having a hard time with their medical billing situation. This comes from a report done by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). The study was done by NCHS researchers Jeannine Schiller, M.P.H. and Robin Cohen, PhD.
What does this mean, and how was this data collected? Read on!
The Study
What the study communicates is that, from the first half of 2011 through the first half of 2015, the number of people struggling to pay medical debt dropped by about 12 million. The groups that showed the greatest improvement were low-income families and those receiving government assistance.
In 2011, about 56.5 million people who were too young for Medicare lived in a household that struggled with a difficult medical billing situation. By the first half of 2015, however, that number had dropped to 44.5 million -- a change of about 3.5 percent.
Seniors were not included in the study, as the majority of their age group is covered by Medicare.
It seems that the past two years held the most dramatic change, which coincides with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare). But was Obamacare a good thing for everyone?
The Obamacare Effect on the Lower Class
The Affordable Care Act’s purpose was to make subsidized health coverage accessible to people who could not get health insurance through their jobs. It also expanded Medicaid benefits for adults in low-income tax brackets who did not have children living at home.
In theory, this was a good idea, and many people who did not previously have health coverage were now covered. But what happened to the middle class once this law was put into practice?
The Obamacare Effect on the Middle Class
While low-income families may have been helped by the Affordable Care Act, it hasn’t brought the same relief to middle class families. In fact, many middle class families saw a drastic rise in their healthcare costs, whether they received coverage through their jobs or paid for it out of pocket.
This seems to be the case even though Obamacare extended health insurance coverage to a previously unheard of number of Americans. The lower class benefits much more than the middle class, and the difference between the two situations -- one class now much better off, the other struggling in ways they never did before -- brings into question the efficacy of the Affordable Care Act.
Have we solved one problem only to create another?
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