Whether you know it or not, Obamacare has affected nearly every American.
Even the Trump administration is using the landmark health reform law to try to lower prescription drug prices.
And most importantly for many folks, Obamacare prevents insurers from turning away or charging more to those with pre-existing conditions. This provision proved so popular that even Republican candidates found themselves promising to defend it in the recent midterm election in an unsuccessful bid to retain their majority in the House.
“You’d be hard pressed to find a part of the health care system that was not touched by the ACA,” said Larry Levitt, senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, of the Affordable Care Act.
All this, however, could be swept away by a US District Court judge in Texas, who ruled Friday that the Affordable Care Act’s individual coverage mandate is unconstitutional and that the rest of the law therefore cannot stand. It seeks to accomplish what Republicans have tried to do for years: repeal Obamacare.
The decision, which is expected to be appealed, doesn’t immediately affect Americans’ coverage. But if it’s upheld by higher courts, it could turn back the clock on the nation’s health care system to before Obamacare became the law of the land in 2010.
Here’s what’s at risk:
Medicare
Obamacare has meant lower premiums, deductibles and cost-sharing for the roughly 60 million senior citizens and disabled Americans enrolled in the program.
The health reform law made many changes to Medicare. It slowed the growth of payment rates to hospitals and other providers, reduced payments to Medicare Advantage plans and improved benefits for enrollees. The Obama administration estimated that the typical Medicare beneficiary pays about $700 less in premiums and cost sharing thanks to the Affordable Care Act.
Under Obamacare, Medicare enrollees also receive free preventative benefits, such as screenings for breast and colorectal cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
And Obamacare helped close the gap in Medicare’s drug coverage and was on track to completely eliminate it by 2020. Senior citizens have to pay more for drugs while they are in the donut hole, which lies between the initial coverage and catastrophic coverage phases. (The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 accelerated the closing of the coverage gap to 2019.
