Barbara Reynolds writes at The Root DC that while the Affordable Care Act may not be a cure-all for the nation's health care problems, it is a lifesaver in this political climate.
What the naysayers don't understand is that the Affordable Care Act is not just about politics. It's about life and death …
While the basics sound innocuous, they are a response to an urgent message. According to a recent study by Families U.S.A., a health-care advocacy group, 26,100 people between ages 25 and 64 died prematurely because of a lack of health coverage in 20l0. The report, based on a methodology developed by the Institute of Medicine, also found that between 2005 and 2010, nearly 4,500 deaths were caused due to a lack of health care in the District, Virginia and Maryland.
Seniors too often have to split pills or skip dosages of life-saving drugs because of Medicaid prescription drug gaps called doughnut holes, when seniors must pay for medication out of their own pockets. By starting to close the doughnut hole, 5.3 million people with Medicare Part D have saved $3.7 billion since the law was enacted. And more than 2.2 million people with traditional Medicare benefited from the new Annual Wellness Visit in 2011, according to the AARP.
Moreover, since the law was passed, 2.4 million black seniors with Medicare have received preventive services such as diabetes screening and 5.5 million black Americans now have coverage for preventative health care services without additional cost sharing according to reports released by the Department of Heath and Human resources.
Read Barbara Reynolds' entire piece at The Root DC.
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