THREAD | 10 years ago today, the #AffordableCareAct was signed into law. To mark this anniversary, #GeorgetownLaw professors Tim Westmoreland and Katie Keith came together virtually to discuss the impact the law has had over the last decade. Highlights below (video in last tweet)
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Katie Keith also notes the role Westmoreland played in the preventive services provision: "Tim Westmoreland was the mastermind behind this incredibly important provision in the
#AffordableCareAct. "One of the best examples of true, evidence-based public health policymaking."Show this thread -
For decades, the Medicaid program was limited to people who were poor and "something else." Poor and pregnant, poor and 65+, etc. During the AIDS epidemic, that was one of the principal hurdles to getting people w/ HIV infection access to the drugs," says Tim Westmoreland.
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Westmoreland adds: "Because of the Medicaid expansion, it's now available to everybody who is low income, everybody under 138% of poverty (FPL) in those states that have chosen to expand."
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How has the
#AffordableCareAct improved access for people w/private health insurance? "Dramatically," says Katie Keith. The preventive services provision, the ban of discrimination against people with pre-existing medical conditions, core benefits, annual out-of-pocket maximums.Show this thread -
"Folks forget about the wild wild west days of coverage, when you could be excluded and turned away and charged more, and we don't have that anymore," Keith adds.
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On current legal challenge before
#SCOTUS from Texas court that suggested invalidating#AffordableCareAct entirely due to individual mandate dispute: "The idea that you could wipe away a law so significant, after a decade, because of a court decision, I think is outrageous."Show this thread -
Westmoreland: Some say 'we barely got through the incremental reforms of the ACA, 'it will be very difficult 'to start from scratch with a single-payer system.' Election 2020 will be a question of whether we can start over, or whether we continue to improve
#AffordableCareAct."Show this thread -
"High deductibles and having to pay out of pocket costs for care is something that millions of families are probably worried about." ... "The polling data is pretty consistent, folks care about their wallet & how much they're paying for healthcare," Katie Keith re: 2020 election.
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"There are things that still need to be improved. There are bridges that still need to be passed in litigation, legislation and elections. But one thing we know is that ACA has made what is happening now, a little more bearable than without it," notes Prof. Tim Westmoreland.
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With ACA, we're more equipped to respond to a public health crisis like
#COVID19, thanks to "Medicaid expansion, improvement of services to Medicare beneficiaries, availability of private health insurance, preventive services without cost-sharing," Westmoreland adds.Show this thread -
WATCH the full discussion on
#ACA10#AffordableCareAct featuring#GeorgetownLaw professors Timothy Westmoreland and Katie Keith (contributor@Health_Affairs) here:https://bit.ly/3bqBTnrShow this thread
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