The US has always relied heavily on private insurance to cover its citizens.
As of 2019, roughly two thirds of Americans with healthcare (about 90% of the population) got it through a private company. The remaining third used public coverage like Medicare, Medicaid, and tax credits for private insurance through the Affordable Care Act. It’s not a perfect system by a long stretch: Even those with insurance encounter debilitating medical bills due to the exorbitant, variable ...
health insurance
Joe Biden touts $1.9tn Covid rescue package on anniversary of Affordable Care Act
Administration also extended the enrollment period for registering for subsidized health insurance coverage until 15 August
Joe Biden marked the 11th anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act with a trip to Ohio on Tuesday, touting his efforts to reverse many Trump-era measures aimed at weakening the landmark health reform law, and pledging that his $1.9tn Covid rescue package would build on the ACA’s promise.
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Depending on where they live, coronavirus can still cost Americans thousands of dollars
Relatively early in America’s adventures in coronavirus, on March 18, the US government approved legislation that made coronavirus testing, as well as the visit to administer it, free for all Americans, whether or not they have health care insurance (although if the visit doesn’t result in a coronavirus test, it is not covered).
It was an essential policy: The fear of medical bills acts as a deterrent for many Americans, pushing them to delay, or avoid, tests or medical tr...
RBG says women are being “tossed to the wind” in Supreme Court birth control case
The US Supreme Court today heard oral arguments in controversial cases about religious and moral objections to contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The Trump administration expanded existing “conscience exemptions” dramatically but a nationwide injunction has so far blocked the new rules from going into place.
The justices’ phone debate was long and sometimes painfully technical. However, distilled, the issue at the heart of these matters is relatively simp...
The cost of American health care could help coronavirus spread in the US
That Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, will spread widely in the United States is now considered a matter of when, not if. There are 60 known cases of the disease in the US, including at least one person with no known foreign travel or contact wit...
Google is secretively collecting health data, and American workers should be worried
Earlier this month, Google confirmed it is collecting the comprehensive health histories of millions of Americans, through a partnership with the largest nonprofit health system in the US. This news should concern us all, but especially anyone who isn’t self-employed.
The...
For rural America, Medicare for All is a matter of life or death | Barb Kalbach
Insurance firms are gobbling up airtime in Iowa to attack Medicare for All. They claim it would hurt the very same hospitals their business model has spent years bleeding dry
Rural hospitals are often the economic heart of a community. Worse, when minutes mean the difference between life and death, every hospital that closes leaves patients in danger. Since 2010, 113 rural hospitals have closed their doors, leaving more than 30 million Americans an hour or more away from critical car...