Obamacare is helping millions get health care
More than 60 percent of working-age Americans who signed up for Medicaid or a private health plan through the Affordable Care Act are getting health care that they couldn't previously get, a new nationwide survey indicates. And consumers are broadly satisfied with the new coverage, despite some cost challenges and an ongoing Republican campaign to discredit the law.
Overall, 82 percent of American adults enrolled in private or government coverage through the health law said they were "somewhat" or "very" satisfied, according to the report from the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund.
New Medicaid enrollees are even happier with their health coverage than Americans in commercial health plans purchased through the marketplaces, with 88 percent reporting they are somewhat or very satisfied.
The high marks are not universal. Some consumers who had coverage before the health law was implemented have seen their premiums and deductibles increase as insurers have absorbed millions of new consumers, many of whom could not obtain health insurance previously because they had a pre-existing medical condition. Nearly half of consumers in marketplace plans reported difficulty paying premiums in 2015.
The new Commonwealth Fund survey found that 45 percent of adults enrolled in a marketplace plan in 2016 and 62 percent of adults newly covered by Medicaid were previously uninsured.
The Commonwealth Fund survey was conducted between Feb. 2 and April 5 among a random, nationally representative sample of 4,802 adults ages 19 to 64. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
