According to a recent article written by author and political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson, although many groups stand to benefit from the Affordable Care Act, African Americans may actually benefit the most as compared to any other racial group in the United States. By some estimates, nearly fifty million Americans do not have health care coverage today, and a significant portion of these citizens are African Americans.
Under the Affordable Care Act, however, it is estimated that nearly seven million African Americans will gain access to the health care system. This includes people who will now be able to afford healthcare insurance, including children who will gain access to their parents’ plans, and elderly and disabled persons who will be covered under expanded Medicare and Medicaid.
Currently, there are nearly four African Americans for every white person who does not have access to health care. This means that African-Americans are far more likely to suffer from a catastrophic illness and much less likely to be able to get basic health care such as check-ups, preventative care and prescription drugs. Through the Affordable Care Act, this under served group will now be able to gain access to all of this. The law also increases the number of clinics that will be built, increasing the number of doctors available in both urban and rural areas.
Furthermore, the Affordable Care Act means that insurance companies will not be able to cherry-pick the best candidates. This has usually meant only people who are healthy. Because people without health insurance typically aren’t healthy, this has meant that once a person loses his or her health insurance, they are out of the system forever. This has disproportionately affected African-Americans, shutting many out of the health care system.
The Affordable Care Act will help African Americans by getting them high quality health care at an affordable price. The subsidies in the Act will provide assistance in gaining access to this coverage.
Read more at The Huffington Post.
