skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Millions of Texans Could Lose Coverage if ACA Repealed

play audio
Play

Monday, January 16, 2017   

AUSTIN, Texas – Congress has set in motion what it says is a plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. But what could happen in Texas if the plan is only repealed?

One study projects that ending Obamacare without immediately enacting an equivalent plan would result in 2.6 million Texans losing health coverage by 2019. Anne Dunkelberg, associate director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, which produced the study, said a repeal of the plan would hit the state's working families hardest.

"Close to 85 percent of them are getting subsidies. The average subsidy is 75 percent of the premium,” Dunkelberg said. "So, if those subsidies go away, the vast majority would not be able to afford to just pick up the other 75 percent of the premium."

The study also found that Texas stands to lose about $62 billion in federal healthcare funding over the next decade if the ACA is repealed, and it would pay out billions more to doctors and hospitals to cover the cost of uncompensated care.

Congress has vowed to replace Obamacare but has yet to reveal the details of any plan it is considering.

Dunkelberg said that if Congress only repeals the plan, the significant gains made in the state's uninsured rate by Obamacare would likely be reversed.

"Even though Texas still has the worst uninsured rate, and the highest uninsured number in the country, and didn't do the Medicaid expansion along with 18 other states, we still had a big, major reduction in our uninsured rate as a result of it,” Dunkelberg said.

She said she's also concerned that any new plan could reverse basic requirements, allowing insurers to sell policies that don't cover key expenses such as prescription drugs, mental health or maternity care.

"Being able to have a talking point that says that the price of the premium went down when in fact the reason it went down is that it's no longer covering anything that you actually need, and it leaves you open to medical bankruptcy,” Dunkelberg said.

The report warned that a repeal of the ACA without an adequate replacement would mean that almost 30 million Americans could lose access to affordable health care.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

With hotter summers bringing hotter working conditions, the Maryland Department of Labor is implementing a heat stress standard to protect workers …

Social Issues

play sound

By Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboratio…

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021