Over 3,000 yearly deaths in Pennsylvania expected from repeal of Obamacare
By
Douglas Lyons
17 March 2017
A report by the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center (PBPC) details the deadly effects of wholly repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) on workers and the poor in Pennsylvania.
Although Obamacare is a regressive law based on the capitalist market—whose purpose has been to reduce costs for businesses, boost profits for the drug and insurance industries and ration health care for workers—the law’s Medicaid expansion provided a portion of the population with access to health care.
In Pennsylvania, about 685,000 people received health care via the Medicaid expansion when Democratic Governor Tom Wolf took office. If repealed, 585,000 people would be booted off Medicaid and either forced to forgo insurance altogether or purchase insurance through an employer or the government-run marketplace, thus placing a financial burden on the person or persons. A small group would be insured though the General Assistance program, Medical Assistance for Workers with Disabilities program, and Medically Needy Only.
The second largest group of Pennsylvanians who acquired insurance were those who purchased health care on the government-run, for-profit marketplace. In the first three months of 2016, approximately 412,347 people bought overpriced private insurance in the marketplace, 321,345 of whom received a tax credit averaging $248 a month and/or cost-sharing reductions that capped out-of-pocket costs. Those who obtained tax credits would lose this benefit and perhaps their insurance. The 91,000 people who didn’t qualify for the subsidy would still have a harder time gaining coverage.
All in all, the report…