New study suggests Obamacare could save thousands of lives a year
Obamacare could literally save lives, new study finds
By Morgan Whitaker
Obamacare critics can hate on President Obama’s health care plan all they want – but a new study suggests that if all goes to plan, thousands of lives a year could be saved.
The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine this month, compares mortality rates for adults in Massachusetts between the ages of 20 and 64 both before and after then-Gov. Mitt Romney signed the state’s health reform, and found it decreased that rate 2.9%, equivalent to about 8.2 deaths for every 100,000 adults. Deaths from so-called “amenable” causes fell by 4.5%.
Adults in that age range saw the most significant changes in health insurance coverage under the law compared to senior citizens, who already enjoy low uninsured rates nationwide thanks to Medicaid.
One of the many tools within the Affordable Care Act (ACA) designed to help drop the uninsured rate was the much-maligned insurance mandate. The model for that mandate from the Massachusetts health reform often referred to as Romneycare, and it helped to reduce the uninsured rate in Massachusetts to the point that the state now has the smallest percentage of uninsured residents than any other state in the union – by far. In Massachusetts only 4.9% percent lack health insurance, according to recent estimates from Gallup.
http://www.msnbc.com/politicsnation/obamacare-could-literally-save-lives-study
