As the U.S. unemployment skyrockets past levels during the Great Depression, today, the Kaiser Family Foundation released estimates that close to 26.8 million Americans will lose their job-based health insurance. This comes just days after the Trump Administration pressed forward with their House Republican-backed lawsuit to repeal the Affordable Care Act. What’s worse? The KFF analysis estimates that 20 million of the newly uninsured will need to rely on the ACA’s Medicaid and insurance marketplace for coverage.
Despite criticism and warnings from both Republican Chairman of the Senate HELP Committee and Attorney General Barr, House Republicans continue to support stripping health care from the American people, even amid a global pandemic.
Statement from DCCC Spokesperson Darwin Pham
“Millions of Americans are already worried about putting food on the table. They shouldn’t also have to worry about Washington Republicans making it harder to get health insurance during a deadly pandemic.”
Key Points from Kaiser Family Foundation Analysis
- An estimated 26.8 million people across the country would become uninsured due to loss of job-based health coverage if they don’t sign up for other coverage.
- About 5.7 million would not eligible for help under the ACA and would have to pay the full cost of their coverage, and many of them will likely remain uninsured.
- An estimated 6.1 million children are losing employer coverage. Overall, nearly 78 million people live in a family experiencing job loss since March 1.
- The analysis estimates that, based on their incomes and other factors, most (79%) who lost employer coverage and became uninsured are likely eligible for subsidized coverage, either through Medicaid (12.7 million) or through the ACA’s marketplaces (8.4 million).
- Eight states have at least a million affected residents and account for nearly half of all people losing employer coverage and becoming uninsured: California (3.4 million), Texas (1.6 million), Pennsylvania (1.5 million), New York (1.5 million), Georgia (1.4 million), Florida (1.4 million), Michigan (1.2 million) and Ohio (1 million).
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