Obamacare is great, but it leaves healthcare reform unfinished, says a leading proponent of the healthcare law.
The healthcare advocacy group Families USA released a set of policy recommendations Monday it says would fill in gaps left by the Affordable Care Act — like making sure the newly-insured have access to care and improving the quality of care while lowering overall costs.
The law does a lot to expand coverage, according to the paper, but many Americans will still find it difficult to get the insurance and care they need. For instance, many low-income Americans are living in states that have rejected the law’s Medicaid expansion. And even with insurance tax credits, many people will still find premiums unaffordable.
Seven years from now, there will still be 31 million uninsured Americans—a situation the group calls “unacceptable.”
“With the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, every legal resident gained the right to health coverage – a historic achievement,” the paper says. “However, enacting this unprecedented legal right is not the same as making it a living reality. We must take additional steps to ensure that health coverage and care become concrete realities for everyone.”
Dubbing their recommendations Health Reform 2.0, the group is recommending that many of the health law’s provisions be taken further and wants an error in the law known a the “family glitch” to be fixed.
The way the law is currently written, if an individual’s employer-sponsored health coverage is deemed affordable only for them — but not for their family members — the family members are still banned from collecting insurance subsidies in the insurance marketplaces.
