This article originally appeared on The Conversation website. Marc Cohen is co-director of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston. Jane Tavares is a research fellow at the center.
By Marc Cohen and Jane Tavares
Ten years after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the Trump administration is now asking the Supreme Court to overturn it. Yet it’s now clear that the ACA has brought significant improvements to the lives of millions of Americans. Today, they enjoy more health care coverage, with greater access, better outcomes and less cost.
One segment in particular gained the most: pre-Medicare adults from ages 50 to 64. Before the ACA, the number of uninsured in that group reached 8.9 million people. Insurance companies rejected more than one in five of their applications. Those who remained uninsured received fewer basic clinical services. They were more likely to experience health declines. Continue reading