How Obamacare Helped Americans With Disabilities

Americans with disabilities saw major increases in health insurance coverage over the last decade since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed, according to new federal data released Monday.

The proportion of working age adults with disabilities who had health insurance for the whole year increased from 71.4% in 2010-2011 to 81.2% in 2017-2018.

Nearly 10 years after the ACA’s passage, the report found that adults with disabilities were still 5% less likely to have insurance for the whole year than adults without disabilities, 17% more likely to be uninsured for the entire year, and 54% more likely to be insured for part of the year.

If you combine their rates of being uninsured for the whole year (9.3%) and part of the year (9.5%) in 2017-2018, consistent health insurance coverage remained out of reach for nearly 1 in 5 disabled adults.

“Medicaid expansion and access to health coverage under the Affordable Care Act mean that today, more people with disabilities have health insurance.

This year, President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan expanded subsidies to help people buy health insurance on the ACA marketplace and gave that financial help not only to low-income Americans but also to those above 400% of the poverty level who previously weren’t eligible for subsidies.

Now 66.8% of uninsured adults with disabilities—532,000 people in total—are eligible for health insurance plans that won’t cost them anything in premiums due to the American Rescue Plan subsidies, according to the HHS report.

“CMS is committed to helping people with disabilities get the health insurance coverage they need and deserve,” Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the agency’s administrator, said in a statement.