Give Obamacare a Chance to Work

There are hints that Obamacare may be starting to work nationally, although the new health law’s pace in South Carolina is lethargic, at best.
More than 3.3 million Americans have signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act through Feb. 1, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a new Gallup Poll based on more than 19,000 interviews shows the rate of uninsured adults is at 16 percent — the lowest level since 2008. Across the nation, the percentage of Americans covered by Medicaid went up from 6.6 percent in late 2014 to 7.4 percent now, an increase that “may be because some states have chosen to participate in Medicaid expansion under a provision of the Affordable Care Act.”
South Carolina, however, is not one of those states. Its leaders have shoved aside calls to reclaim billions of South Carolina’s federal tax payments to allow tens of thousands of the state’s poorest to get health care through Medicaid expansion. Nevertheless, 41,300 South Carolinians signed up for health insurance through a federal exchange as of the first day of the month, according to HHS figures. Critics say only 25,000 people or so have paid and received coverage through the new system.
One family that scrapped its health plan for one offered through the exchange was ours. Through the exchange with the help of a health insurance agent, we picked a plan and got signed up relatively quickly.
The key, however, to getting the plan fairly easily was using an insurance agent, not to trying to do it on our own. Health economist Lynn Bailey said using agents is important because they have specialized training and really know how the new insurance system works.
“There are lots of people sitting out there with no health coverage who are just intimidated,” she said, noting that the scattered rollout of the Healthcare.gov Web site didn’t help. “They’re overwhelmed. They just become confused. It is complicated and they just walk away.”
In South Carolina, about 800,000 people traditionally have not had health insurance. Of those, about 200,000 of the state’s poorest fall through the cracks for coverage because South Carolina hasn’t accepted federal aid to expand Medicaid for Obamacare. The rest of those without coverage can apply for insurance through a federal exchange. Those who earn up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level may qualify for a subsidy to make the insurance more affordable.
While the data show that South Carolinians are very slow to get coverage as a March 31 deadline approaches, Obamacare is changing lives, as highlighted in the story of a single mother in the Lowcountry.
The woman, says health insurance agent Marcia Alfaro of Charleston, has had a family history of diabetes and heart disease. She has worried the conditions threaten her health and her teen-ager’s future. But she didn’t have insurance because coverage didn’t come through two low-wage, part-time jobs. And she couldn’t afford coverage, although she works hard, pays her bills, and provides for her family. When she has gotten sick, she has gone to a public health clinic, but didn’t have a doctor who focused on wellness.
But through Obamacare, the mother could get a subsidy to make health insurance affordable for the first time, said Alfaro, who owns Visionary Insurance Advocates in West Ashley. No longer does this woman worry about what happens if she gets sick. She’s not embarrassed to visit a doctor because she has an insurance card. And when she recently visited her own doctor for the first time, she was surprised to pay nothing, Alfaro said, noting how she reminded her client that the new law covers 100 percent of the cost of preventive benefits.
Bottom line: It’s going to take a while for the Affordable Care Act to make more of an impact in South Carolina. But as time passes and people get over being scared or confused about it, it will start to work — just like it did for this Lowcountry mother.
 
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report. He can be reached at: brack@statehousereport.com.