Adapted from Medscape Medical News - ACA at 5 Years: 25 Numbers to Know - Robert Lowes - March 30, 2015 with source citations - figures may vary from those published by other sources. (See intro to free use of Medscape below the fold; note 170+ comments at the original article at time of adaptation.) With this we get good talk-points in daily casual conversation with neighbors, co-workers, folks in line at the market and home-improvement store, with original data-source access to keep current and authoritative... and to share around for anyone with uncertainties or doubts.
1. ► 37.2 million: Number of Americans who were uninsured in the first 9 months of 2014, a decrease of 23% from 2010, when the ACA was passed. CDC Health Insurance Coverage: Early Release of Estimates From the National Health Interview Survey, January – September 2014 (pdf)
2. ► 11.7 million Americans who have signed up or re-enrolled for coverage on ACA insurance exchanges for 2015. marketplace enrollment updated 8 April 2015 - Urban Institute/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation dot org (website)
3. ► 46%: Increase in the number of Americans signing up for coverage in an ACA exchange plan 2014 to 2015. ibid.
4. ► 2.3 million young adults gained coverage from 2010 through September 2013 by staying on parents' health insurance plan up to age 26. Health Insurance Coverage and the ACA, 16 March 2015 - HHS dot gov (pdf)
5. ► 28 states plus Washington, DC expanded under the ACA. Current Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions - kff dot org (website)
6. ► 11.2 million additional Americans enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program in January 2015 compared with autumn 2013 HHS dot gov slash Healthcare [additional Medicaid enrollment] (website), 86% of them in states that expanded Medicaid programs. Medicaid & CHIP: January 2015 Monthly Applications, Eligibility Determinations and Enrollment Report (pdf)
7. ► 30,700 jobs Alabama would have gained each year through 2020 if it had expanded its Medicaid program. Economic Impact of the Medicaid Expansion, 23 March 2015 - HHS dot gov (pdf)
8. ► 900,000 Americans' individual or employer-sponsored health policies were cancelled for 2015 because they did not comply with the ACA. Health Reform Monitoring Survey - QuickTake: Health Insurance Policy Cancellations Were Uncommon in 2014 - Urban Instit. Health Policy Ctr dot org (website)
9. ► $7.4 billion: The drop in uncompensated care for hospitals nationwide in 2014 resulting from ACA exchange coverage and Medicaid expansion. Insurance Expansion, Hospital Uncompensated Care, and the ACA, 23 March 2015 - HHS dot gov Medicaid Expansion (pdf)
10. ► 46%: Percentage of Americans who said they approved of the ACA in the first Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll, April 2010. Health Tracking Poll: Exploring the Public’s Views on the ACA - kff dot org (website)
11. ► 50% approval rating, June 2010 (highest to date). ibid.
12. ► 33% approval rating, November 2013 during the glitchy rollout of healthcare.gov (lowest to date). ibid.
13. ► 41% approval rating, March 2015. ibid.
14. ► 87%: Percentage of 2015 enrollees in ACA exchange plans in the 37 states using healthcare.gov who receive a premium subsidy in the form of a tax credit. Marketplaces make significant progress in 2015 - urban dot org (website)
15. ► $3960: Average premium subsidy (annual) in 2015. Insurance Coverage Provisions of the ACAct, CBO’s March 2015 Baseline - Congressional Budget Office; staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, cbo dot gov (pdf)
16. ► 1 in 2: Number of American households eligible for a premium subsidy in 2014 who will have to pay some money back to the government in 2015 because of income changes. New Analysis - Half Of Households Eligible for a Tax Subsidy...Would Owe a Repayment;45% Would Receive a Refund - kff dot org (website)
17. ► $794: Estimated average payment these households will owe the government in 2015. ibid. "...Estimated Average Repayment is $794. Estimated Average Refund is $773..."
18. ► $15 billion: Amount saved so far by 9 million Medicare beneficiaries receiving prescription drugs as a result of the law's shrinkage of the infamous Part D "doughnut hole." Whitehouse dot gov blog-email — 23 March 2015 "Better with Obamacare (website, may be somewhat slow to load) : ■ More than 16 million Americans have gained health coverage ■ 9.4 million People with Medicare saved a total of more than $15 billion on prescription medications ■ 76 million People are benefiting from preventive care coverage ■ 105 million People no longer have a lifetime limit on their health coverage ■ Up to 129 million People with pre-existing conditions are no longer at risk of being denied coverage ■ ZERO Death panels were created ■
19. ► 18: ACA tax increases, new taxes, fees, and penalties the Heritage Foundation counted —Obamacare’s Impact on Today’s and Tomorrow’s Taxpayers...August 21, 2013 (website)— [based on/in] a government analysis —Congressional Budget Office dot gov 22pp. 21 August 2013 letter to the Speaker of the House (pdf)— of the ACA.
20. ► 15: Number of seats on the law's Independent Payment Advisory Board [which was] created to curb Medicare spending and loathed by organized medicine. PUBLIC LAW 111–148—MAR. 23, 2010 "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act." (pdf)
21. ► 0: Number of people appointed to the Independent Payment Advisory Board so far. WIKIPEDIA - Indep. Pyt. Adv. Brd (website)
22. ► 26% / 12%: Percentages of polled Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. in March 2015 who believe an ACA government panel is involved in decisions about patients' end-of-life care. vox dot com, 23 March 2015 - "...still worried about death panels" (website)
23. ► $10: Threshold for "transfers of values" to physicians — [think of a $10 box of brand-labelled ballpoint pens from a pharmaceutical representative] — which drug and device makers must report to the government, as required by the ACA's Sunshine Act. Medscape: Every Slice of Drug-Rep Pizza Counts Starting Aug. 1 [2013] (website). See also WIKIPEDIA: Physician Payments Sunshine Act (webpage) and cms dot gov "Open Payments" (website).
24. ► 0.3%: Percentage point increase in new-patient visits as a proportion of all visits for primary care physicians from 2013 (22.6%) to 2014 (22.9%), when insurance coverage expanded under the ACA. Medscape Medical News reportage, "Doctors [are not swamped by new patients]" (webpage) on and linking to ACAView’s Second Report on the Affordable Care Act, 25 Feb 2015 - Robt.Wood Johnson Fndn dot org (pdf)
25. ► 3: Number of lawsuits about the ACA that have made it to the Supreme Court: National Federation of Independent Business v Sebelius (individual mandate and Medicaid expansion), Burwell v Hobby Lobby (contraception coverage mandate), and King v Burwell (premium subsidies). The last case is pending.
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