Local health officials celebrated a drop in the number of Pima County residents without health insurance Wednesday as they marked the five-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.
The most recent data from the grassroots organization Enroll America show the rate of uninsured Pima County residents dropped from 17 percent to 10 percent between 2013 and 2014, when most provisions of the federal law took effect, including the requirement that all Americans have health insurance.
“Ten percent is almost unheard of. When I started in this position and for most of my time practicing at the U (University of Arizona), the uninsurance rate in Pima County has been 20 percent,” said Dr. Francisco Garcia, director of the Pima County Health Department.
“To cut that in half is beyond my wildest dreams. I can’t overemphasize what a huge achievement this is. This has been a game changer,” he said.
Garcia was among dozens of local and federal health officials who attended an outdoor rally at Tucson Medical Center Wednesday morning to mark the five-year anniversary of Congress passing the act.
Since then, 205,666 Arizonans have signed up for health insurance through the federal marketplace, which gives federal subsidies to those who qualify for them.
Another 224,230 people have signed up for Medicaid via an expansion and restoration of childless adults to the program, also part of the Affordable Care Act. Medicaid is a government health insurance program for low-income people. In Arizona it is called the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS.
“Until President Obama fought for and signed the Affordable Care Act, for decades millions of Americans lacked security of health care — and thousands in this community,” said Elizabeth “Bess” Evans, associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, who also was in Tucson for the event. “And five years after this law has come into fruition, millions of working families have gained that economic security.”
One of those gaining coverage was Tucsonan Gina Da Vita, who works two jobs but hadn’t had health insurance for more than 10 years when she got a plan through the federal marketplace in late 2013.
“For many years I could not afford health insurance. It was just not affordable,” she said.
Da Vita, 51, found a plan for $104 per month and said she has more peace of mind than in the past when she used to often worry about getting sick.
Sixteen million Americans now have access to coverage that they did not previously have, Evans said. Millions of people under the age of 26 have been able to stay on their parents’ plans, and women are no longer paying more for coverage, she said.
Garcia says the Affordable Care Act is the most crucial and important local anti-poverty measure.
But he later noted the threats to the gains that have been made. In addition to a state challenge to Arizona’s Medicaid expansion, a case under consideration with the U.S. Supreme Court could upend health insurance coverage in Arizona.
The nation’s high court is expected to rule on King v. Burwell in June. The case will determine whether federal subsidies are legal in the 34 states, including Arizona, that chose not to create their own health insurance marketplaces. Some experts say under a ruling in the plaintiff’s favor, the entire federal health exchange could fall apart.
“That would have a very important impact on us,” Garcia said.
And a bill on Gov. Doug Ducey’s desk, recently passed by the Legislature, would prohibit Arizona from setting up its own health exchange.
