Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Big Drop in Uninsured 50-to-64-Year-Olds

What has the Affordable Care Act done for the nation's most vulnerable—50-to-64-year-olds? This is the age when illness often strikes, and when it does those without health insurance can face catastrophic costs and medical bankruptcy. Until the Affordable Care Act, millions of 50-to-64-year-olds could not get coverage because of pre-existing conditions and prohibitive costs.

That was then. This is now: the percentage of 50-to-64-year-olds without health insurance fell from 11.6 to 8.0 percent between December 2013 and December 2014, according to a study by the AARP Public Policy Institute, a decline of nearly one-third. But some 50-to-64-year-olds are luckier than others. The lucky ones live in states that expanded Medicaid. The unlucky ones live in states that did not...

Uninsured rate for 50-to-64-year-olds by state of residence, December 2014
States expanding Medicaid: 5.5%
States not expanding Medicaid: 11.0%

Source: AARP Public Policy Institute, Monitoring the Impact of Health Reform on Americans Ages 50-64

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