Just How Much Does ACA Coverage Improve People’s Ability to Get Needed Health Care?
<p>By all measures, the Affordable Care Act has had a significant impact on health insurance coverage in America. Since 2013, the number of people lacking health care coverage has fallen from 41 million to 27 million.</p><p>But how have the ACA’s Medicaid expansion and health care marketplaces affected access to health services—the reason people get insurance in the first place? </p>
<p>In a new issue brief from The Commonwealth Fund, health economist Sherry Glied, dean of New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and her research team show how Americans who have gained coverage through the ACA’s expansions are much less likely than uninsured people to report being unable to get health care or delaying needed care. Moreover, those newly insured are just as likely as people who have always been covered to have a usual place to go for care. </p>