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Tuesday, November 28th, 2023

The US doesn’t have universal health care — but these states (almost) do

Author:     Dylan Scott
Source:     Vox
Publication Date:     Nov 26, 2023 | 7:00am EST
Link: The US doesn’t have universal health care — but these states (almost) do
Stephan:  

The United States illness profit system is the worst healthcare system in the developed world — we rank 69th. But a few states are making important wellbeing fostering changes in their state policies that move their state closer to full healthcare coverage. Do I need to tell you these states are all Blue states controlled by Democrats. The interesting thing I have been watching is that the more New Mexico comes under Democratic control the higher the quality of life for the state’s population has become. Meanwhile the Republican controlled Red states are losing doctors by the score, and large parts of Red states, particularly rural areas, are becoming “medical deserts” where high quality medical care is almost impossible to come by.

Credit: Getty / iStockphoto

Universal health care remains an unrealized dream for the United States. But in some parts of the country, the dream has drawn closer to a reality in the 13 years since the Affordable Care Act passed.

Overall, the number of uninsured Americans has fallen from 46.5 million in 2010, the year President Barack Obama signed his signature health care law, to about 26 million today. The US health system still has plenty of flaws — beyond the 8 percent of the population who are uninsured, far higher than in peer countries, many of the people who technically have health insurance still find it difficult to cover their share of their medical bills. Nevertheless, more people enjoy some financial protection against health care expenses than in any previous period in US history.

The country is inching toward universal coverage. If everybody who qualified for either the ACA’s financial assistance or its Medicaid expansion were successfully enrolled in the program, we would get closer still: More than half of the uninsured are technically eligible for […]

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