The Supreme Court’s ruling in King v. Burwell means an estimated 6.4 million Americans currently receiving health insurance subsidies in states with federally run marketplaces will continue to benefit from affordable health coverage. In a new blog post, The Commonwealth Fund’s Sara R. Collins and David Blumenthal, M.D., discuss findings from a recent Commonwealth Fund survey that highlight the difference marketplace insurance and Medicaid coverage have made to millions. In the survey, more than half of working-age adults who currently have coverage either through marketplace plans or Medicaid said they had been previously uninsured; of those, more than six of 10 had been without insurance for a year or longer.
Collins and Blumenthal also point to the remaining challenges in realizing the potential of the law’s sweeping insurance reforms and expansions.