Health insurance necessity
A March report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that 20 million people have gained health insurance since 2010 under the Affordable Care Act, including 6.1 million previously uninsured between the ages of 19 and 25.
Gains in coverage were strong among all racial and ethnic groups.
The rates of uninsured dropped among blacks by more than 50 percent (from 22.4 percent to 10 percent); Hispanics about 25 percent (41.8 percent to 30.5 percent); and whites about 50 percent (14.3 percent to 7 percent).
Read the report at: aspe.hhs.gov/pdf-report/health-insurance-coverage-and-affordable-care-act-2010-2016.
Most of us who are not personally affected by these statistics because we are insured through our employers cannot imagine what a difference it has made in their lives to have access to health insurance, or what it would be like to lose it here in Kentucky.
The people who are personally affected are less likely to vote than those of us who are not. The innocent, powerless children have no choice.
Throwing out the ACA without a viable replacement option is not the answer.
Susan Church
Paris
This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Health insurance necessity."