For ACA naysayers, one argument posed is that the Affordable Care Act is all but affordable. However a recent study by Gallup suggests that most Americans can afford their health insurance, despite significant spikes in premium prices. Gallup reports that only 15.5% of Americans claim they can’t afford their health insurance.
That’s a record-breaking low since Gallup first started conducting their research on health care affordability in 2008, two years before the Affordable Care Act came into effect. For the first five years of their studies (2008-2013), an estimated 18.7% of Americans couldn’t afford health care, but that number has since been on the consistent decline. Per Gallup, this is largely due to the Affordable Care Act, as more Americans are receiving health insurance at a rate they can work with.
An interesting point to note is that an average cost of health care for a family of four has grown to a staggering $25,000 annually, many consumers are only responsible for about 43% of that amount, thanks to the uptick of employer-sponsored health care, a move aggressively pursued by the ACA with regard to full-time status employees.
While the cost of living (literally) has increased, it’s clear that the Affordable Care Act has alleviated some degree of financial burden when it comes to health care. Perhaps that’s the greatest point of.
