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“Without the Affordable Care Act, I simply could not have retired at 62.”

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Donald L., Palm Coast, FL

Health Care Blog

  • The Economic Benefits of the Affordable Care Act

    Posted by Jason Furman on April 2, 2015 at 11:49 AM EDT

    Earlier today, I spoke at the Center for American Progress about the major benefits that the Affordable Care Act is generating for our economy by expanding access to affordable insurance coverage and reforming our health care delivery system to reduce costs and improve quality. This blog post briefly summarizes my remarks, which are available in full here.

    Benefits of the Historic Coverage Expansion for Labor Markets and the Macroeconomy

    Since the Affordable Care Act’s main coverage provisions took effect at the beginning of 2014, we have seen a precipitous decline in the uninsured rate unlike anything since the decade following the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, and the nation’s uninsured rate now stands at its lowest level ever. A recent analysis by the Department of Health and Human Services indicated that, as of the early months of 2015, an estimated 16.4 million people have gained coverage, including both people who have gained coverage since the end of 2013 and young adults who gained coverage before 2014 due to the law’s option to remain on a parent’s plan until age 26.

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  • West Wing Week: 03/27/2015 or, “The Magic Page”

    Posted by Adam Garber on March 27, 2015 at 2:00 PM EDT

    This week, the President welcomed to the White House both student filmmakers and student scientists, hosted the Afghan president, and honored the five year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, while the First Lady championed the Let Girls Learn initiative in Japan and Cambodia. That's March 20th to March 26th or, "The Magic Page."

    Don't forget to tune in next week for a special, 5th-anniversary edition of West Wing Week:

    Includes Video
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  • Keeping Up with the Cabinet: It’s Time to Act to Reduce Opioid Related Injuries and Deaths

    Posted by Secretary Sylvia Burwell on March 26, 2015 at 5:30 PM EDT

    We lose too many of our fellow Americans to drug overdoses. Especially alarming is the high rate of prescription drug overdose and the rising rate of overdoses due to heroin use. In 2012 alone, 259 million opioid prescriptions were written -- enough for every American adult to have a bottle.

    Rural America, including my home state of West Virginia, knows this issue all too well. Opioid injuries and overdoses are very real and affect many families. The situation is urgent – but there is reason for optimism: There are targeted actions we can take to save lives and turn these trends around. But we need all stakeholders at the table.

    Therefore, I am asking federal, state and local government officials, doctors, treatment providers, drug companies, individuals and family members to work together to address this nationwide crisis.

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  • 4 Ways the Affordable Care Act Is Improving the Quality of Health Care in America

    Posted by Tanya Somanader on March 25, 2015 at 11:29 AM EDT

    American medicine is the best in the world. But waste and inefficiencies in the system have traditionally put your health and your pocketbook at risk. Patients who stay in the hospital longer than they need to could be exposed to infection. Vital information can get lost in the transition from primary care doctors to specialists. And when patients are given different prescriptions from multiple doctors, dangerous drug interactions can occur.

    That’s why the Affordable Care Act has been so crucial to tackling these and other challenges and increasing the quality of health care for Americans. Here’s how this landmark law is improving health care for you:

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  • Continuing the Affordable Care Act’s Progress on Delivery System Reform Is an Economic Imperative

    Posted by Jason Furman and Matt Fiedler on March 24, 2015 at 4:35 PM EDT

    Yesterday marked the fifth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. Over the five years since the law passed, our health care system has seen considerable progress: a dramatic expansion of health insurance coverage that has pushed the nation’s uninsured rate to its lowest level ever; historically slow growth in health care costs that has saved billions for workers, businesses, and governments; and striking improvements in the quality of patient care that have avoided tens of thousands of patient deaths. But much remains to be done.

    Notably, despite major progress facilitated by the Affordable Care Act, our health care system remains dominated by “fee-for-service” payment systems that pay doctors and hospitals based on the quantity of care they provide, not the outcomes they achieve for patients. Economists broadly agree that traditional fee-for-service payment systems increase costs and reduce the quality of care patients receive, and recent evidence has bolstered the case that alternative ways of paying providers that reward quality and efficiency can generate substantial improvements in care.

    Indeed, facilitating the deployment of new payment models, like bundled payments and Accountable Care Organizations, may be the best tool we have to ensure that the exceptionally slow growth in health costs we have seen in recent years continues in the years ahead. And if deploying such models does allow us to sustain the recent slow growth in health costs, the economic gains could be immense. To illustrate that fact, consider:

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  • After 5 Years, Here are 5 Ways the Affordable Care Act is Working for America:

    Posted by Chris Evans on March 23, 2015 at 7:26 PM EDT

    Five years after the Affordable Care Act became law, its vision of affordable, quality health insurance for America is a reality. The state of our nation's health care is better off than it was when the President took office.  This is thanks to the variety of critical provisions within the Affordable Care Act. 

    Read on for five core ways that the Affordable Care Act is working to help Americans.

    1. After five years of the Affordable Care Act, more than 16 million people have health coverage.

    That's more people than the populations of New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago combined. This number includes parents who can finally afford to take their kids to the doctor, families who no longer risk losing their homes or savings because someone becomes ill, and young people who are now free to pursue their dreams without worrying about losing access to health care. 

    With millions of people getting covered, the uninsured rate for non-elderly adults has dropped by 35% since October 2013. “The Affordable Care Act is working,” President Obama said after hearing the news that millions of Americans had signed up and gotten covered. “And I'll tell you, everywhere I go around the country, I'm meeting individuals who come up and thank me. How passionate they are about the difference it's made in their lives, it really reminds me why we do all of this." 

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