LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A report by a private foundation said the percentage of Arkansas adults who went without medical care because of the cost decreased last year.
The Commonwealth Fund’s report released last week shows 16 percent of adults in Arkansas went without health care because of the cost in 2015, compared to 18 percent in 2014.
The report, citing information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the percentage of adults across the nation who went without health care in the past year for the same reason fell from 14 percent in 2014 to 13 percent in 2015, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (https://bit.ly/2hx1CkZ ) reported.
Commonwealth Fund compiled information on changes in health care access across the country since Jan. 1, 2014, when new subsidies for coverage became available under the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Arkansas Center for Health Improvement director Joe Thompson said the report showed the gains that will be at stake as a Republican-controlled Congress and President-elect Donald Trump plan to go through with their promises on repealing the current health care law.
“If the Affordable Care Act is repealed without an immediate replacement strategy, these numbers will dramatically reverse and significant turmoil will be injected into the health insurance marketplace,” Thompson said.
As of Sept. 30, more than 324,000 people were covered under Arkansas’ expanded Medicaid program, and an additional nearly 71,000 residents were signed up as of Dec. 15 for the Affordable Care Act. The ACA makes tax-credit subsidies available through health insurance exchanges to people who don’t qualify for Medicaid.
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Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, https://www.arkansasonline.com
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