Congresswoman Beatty Highlights Successes on the Fifth Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act

Press Release

Today, U.S. Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (OH-03) highlighted the successes over the past five years since the passage of Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA delivers coverage to 16.4 million Americans that were previously uninsured, allows for free access to annual medical screenings, and removes caps on coverage.

"The Affordable Care Act has allowed millions of Americans to finally get access to quality, affordable medical coverage," said Rep. Beatty. "Ohioans can no longer be denied access to coverage due to a pre-existing condition, young adults are able to have coverage while getting established, and our mothers, sisters, and daughters are no longer considered a pre-existing condition just because they are female."

As a result of the ACA, the 5 million Ohioans with a pre-existing health conditions can no longer be denied health care coverage. Millions of Americans, and almost 3 million Ohioans, who already had insurance have seen their coverage improve because they now have access to preventive services like vaccines, cancer screenings, and yearly wellness visits at no out-of-pocket costs. And since the ACA allows young adults to stay on their parents' plan until they turn 26, 97,000 young adults in Ohio gained coverage.

Nationwide, nearly 11.7 million consumers selected a plan or were automatically enrolled in Marketplace coverage. These enrollments contributed to the 7.1 percent drop in the uninsured rate since the ACA was passed.

In Ohio, 234,341 consumers selected plans or were automatically re-enrolled in quality, affordable health insurance coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace as of Feb. 22, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Additionally, eight out of ten Ohioans are able to select a Marketplace plan for $100 or less per month, and a vast majority of enrollees received an average tax credit of $244.

"As a lifelong health care advocate, I am glad that, due to this law, the nation is making progress for the millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans," said Rep. Beatty.

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