Sometime very soon, the Supreme Court will reveal its decision regarding the Affordable Care Act. Soon, Americans will know what the fate of their current health insurance plans will be. There are those who are strongly opposed to the ACA. Here is a brief reminder of what health care was like for most Americans before the ACA existed.
The Affordable Care Act was signed by President Obama on March 23, 2010. Since then, Americans have seen many good things happen as a result of the changes that were brought about by the regulations in the Affordable Care Act. We, as a nation, stand to lose a lot of protections if the Affordable Care Act is deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Right now, there are plenty of Republican politicians who have been declaring, very loudly, that they want to repeal or replace the entire Affordable Care Act. Mitt Romney has gone so far as to state that he doesn’t think that health insurance companies should have to cover people who have pre-existing conditions. He also thinks that only the Americans who were lucky enough to be able to afford continuous health insurance coverage should have any guarantee of health insurance coverage in the future.
It seems to me that Republicans, like Mitt Romney, don’t really have any idea of what it was like for the average American, (or the low-income American), to find health insurance coverage before the Affordable Care Act came into existence. Here is some information that they need to realize.
There was a study done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The study is called “Use of Selected Clinical Preventive Services Among Adults- United States, 2007 to 2010.” The data gives us a snapshot of what it was like for Americans who were trying to afford health care in the years before the ACA provided some protections.
Before 2010, less than half of adults in the United States received key health preventative services. Those services include things like cancer screenings, consultations, and prescription medications. The study provides data on the use of selected adult preventative services including aspirin, (or other blood thinning) therapy, controlling blood pressure, screening for and controlling of blood pressure, screening for and controlling of high cholesterol, and ending tobacco use. Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said:
“Clinical preventative services prevent heart attack, stroke, cancer, and other diseases and save lives.”
In 2010, only 47% of the patients who had a type of heart disease that primarily affects blood vessels were prescribed the recommend daily use of aspirin. A total of 33.4% of men and 25.6% of women, were not screened for high blood pressure in the previous five years. Fewer than 1 out of 13 people who used tobacco had a doctor prescribe medications to help them end their tobacco use. Things have improved today, and more people are able to afford the preventative care that they require, thanks to the ACA.
Image by Laura Padgett on Flickr