Nearly 26 million people remain without health coverage in the country. President Biden believes progress is tied to the emergency relief plan adopted at the start of his term.
United States President Joe Biden in Washington, August 1, 2022. (POOL / JIM WATSON)
Towards better access to healthcare? The government of Joe Biden welcomed, Tuesday, August 2, the drop in the proportion of people with no
no health insurance in the United States. the
the lowest level was reached at the beginning of 2022, with 8% of the population concerned.
The rate of uninsured people began to fall sharply after
the entry into force in 2014 of the “Affordable Care Act”
, an ambitious reform of medical insurance better known as “Obamacare”, Barack Obama’s flagship law. Between 2018 and 2019, however, the uninsured curve rebounded, before falling again.
5.2 million new policyholders since 2020
In total, “5.2 million people have obtained coverage since 2020, which coincides with the start of the Biden-Harris administration in January 2021,” the health ministry said in a statement. This figure includes
4.1 million adults and 1 million children
according to the report on which the government relies, based on a survey conducted each year among households.
However, around 26 million people remain without health coverage in the country today. ”
No one should be afraid of not being able to pay their doctor
or having to choose between paying your rent and getting your medication,” the Democratic president said in a statement. “Today, we are closer than ever to making this principle a reality,” he said. he advanced.
Grants to help families
He believed that recent progress was linked in particular to the improvements contained in the American Rescue Plan, the emergency aid plan adopted at the start of his mandate, which contained
measures facilitating access to health insurance
through subsidies helping families pay for their medical coverage. “Pretty cool, huh, Barack Obama?” Joe Biden tweeted on Tuesday welcoming the news.
“Absolutely, Joe,” replied the former Democratic president, still on Twitter. The two men pleaded for the passage in Congress of the “Inflation Reduction Act”,
a law focusing largely on clean energy and the climate
but also containing measures to guarantee the subsidies granted for medical coverage and to bring down the prices of medicines.
.