Is Obamacare Failing To Meet The Needs Of The Underinsured?
The Auburn Journal offers a two-part series examining the impact of the Affordable Care Act on uninsured or lower-income residents in the region.
Auburn Journal:
Uncovered California: Despite Insurance, Some Left Without Care
Charlene Sanborn loved being a mother to her three boys, and when they were grown she loved being a grandmother to their children. She would drop everything to babysit her grandchildren. In fact, she loved everybody’s children. When her boys were growing up in Placerville, the Sanborn house was the place to crash after school and on the weekends. Later, when she worked as a teacher’s aide, she went home and told her family stories of the cute things the kids had said and done that day. Growing up, the Sanborns had a lot of love, but they didn’t have much money, so their mom had gone without health insurance most of her life — until the Affordable Care Act went into effect in January, 2014, and along with so many other Californians she was able to enroll in Medi-Cal for the first time. (Caspers, 5/9)
Auburn Journal:
Uncovered California: Emergency Rooms See Increased Numbers After Affordable Care Act
Emergency rooms are still swamped in Placer County and beyond. Many visits are from people who have insurance for the first time. Some say patients continue to use the ER because it’s where they’ve always gone; others say patients turn to ERs when doctors are too busy or too far away, and the pain is too great. When the Affordable Care Act was passed, one of its goals was to move non-urgent patients out of the ER, but a nation-wide study shows ER visits have either increased or stayed the same since January, 2014. (Caspers, 5/10)