The chart above is from a recent survey by the Gallup Poll. Between July 1st and September 30th, they questioned a random national sample of 45,615 adults, and because of the huge sample the poll has a margin of error of only 1 point.
The chart shows that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) has been pretty successful in its primary goal -- to lower the number of uninsured Americans (thus assuring they can get the healthcare, especially preventative care, that they need). In the last seven quarters, the percentage of uninsured Americans has been reduced fro 17.1% to 11.6% (a reduction in the uninsured of about 32%).
That's good, and I applaud the law for that reduction. But we need to get that number much lower -- all the way down to 0%. Obamacare could be even more successful if the Republican state legislatures would stop playing politics, and expand Medicaid (which currently about half of the states are refusing to do). That 22.2% of uninsured making less than $36,000 could be significantly reduced by that.
But while Obamacare has significantly reduced the number of uninsured Americans, and with GOP cooperation could do even more, the truth is that Obamacare alone will never eliminate the uninsured citizens in the U.S. -- and was never designed to do that. Obamacare was a significant step forward in many ways, but it has not completely fixed the health care system in this country. More needs to be done.
While there is not the political will for it right now, if Americans are to accept that healthcare is a right (and not just a product to be sold), then we are eventually going to have to go to a better system. I believe what is necessary is a government-run, single-payer health insurance system -- like most other developed countries have done (including our neighbor to the north).
This would be something like a Medicare-for-all -- which would have the advantage of covering all citizens with health insurance, and would reduce the amount of money spent on health care in the U.S. (which is much higher than in any other developed nation). It has to come. The only question is how long it will take to finally do it.
