Showing posts with label Obamacare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obamacare. Show all posts

Friday, October 05, 2018

Congressional Black Caucus to Trump: We Have Lost A Lot

During his election campaign Trump asked African Americans What do they have to lose. Weeks before the November midterm elections, the Congressional Black Caucus has released a video that answers that question. The nearly four-minute documentary is titled “We Have Lost a Lot.” and sharply criticizes the policies of Donald Trump’s Administration,discusses how his policies have hurt African Americans, and urges African Americans to vote in response.

The video features African American lawmakers and CBC members Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), Karen Bass (D-Calif.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ).

Watch the video below:

Monday, November 06, 2017

ObamaCare signups surge in early days to set new record

Despite the Trump administration's sabotage attempts which included cutting funding for advertising the Affordable Care Act's enrollment period, and cutting the enrollment period itself by 40 plus days, it seems that early enrollment figures have set a new sign-up record.

A record number of people signed up for ObamaCare in the first few days of open enrollment this year compared to the same period in previous years, several sources close to the process told The Hill.

The surge in sign-ups, which was confirmed by an administration official, comes despite fears from Democrats that enrollment would fall off due to the Trump administration's cutbacks in outreach and advertising.

On the first day of enrollment alone, Nov. 1, one source close to the process told The Hill that more than 200,000 people selected a plan for 2018, compared with about 100,000 last year. More than 1 million people visited healthcare.gov that day, compared to about 750,000 last year, the source said.

It is still early in the process and it is unclear how the final sign-up numbers will come out. Sign-ups early in the enrollment season are often people renewing their coverage, not new enrollees.

[SOURCE: The Hill].

Friday, June 23, 2017

More Breast Cancers Diagnosed Early After "ObamaCare" Took Effect



MAYWOOD, Ill.June 23, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A Loyola University Chicago study published this month has found an increase in the percentage of breast cancer patients who were diagnosed in early Stage 1, after the Affordable Care Act took effect.
The increases in Stage 1 diagnoses were higher among African American and Latina breast cancer patients, compared to white patients.
The study by Abigail Silva, PhD, MPH, and colleagues is published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology. Silva is an assistant professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.
The Affordable Care Act eliminated copayments and other out-of-pocket costs for 45 preventive care services, including mammograms. This made mammograms more affordable, potentially leading to earlier diagnoses.
The earlier cancer is detected, the more effectively it can be treated. Diagnosing breast cancer when it is still in Stage 1 could improve the prognosis for thousands of women and reduce the need for invasive treatments such as chemotherapy for a substantial number of women, Silva and colleagues wrote.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States. The American Cancer Society estimates nearly 253,000 women will be diagnosed this year.
Compared to white women, Latinas are less likely to receive mammograms overall and African Americans are less likely to receive mammograms at recommended intervals. Out-of-pocket payments have been identified as a potential barrier to getting screening mammograms.
The retrospective study included 470,465 breast cancer patients between the ages of 50 and 74 who were covered by private insurance or Medicare and were newly diagnosed with Stage 1-4 cancer. Researchers examined two time periods: 2007-2009 (before the Affordable Care Act took effect) and 2011-2013 (after the act took effect). Researchers obtained data from the National Cancer Database, which includes approximately 70 percent of all newly diagnosed cancers in the United States from about 1,500 hospitals.
Overall, the percentage of breast cancers that were diagnosed at Stage 1 increased 3.6 percentage points, from 54.4 percent to 58.0 percent. There was a corresponding decrease in Stage 2 and Stage 3 diagnoses, while the proportion of Stage 4 cancers did not change. The shift toward Stage 1 breast cancer diagnoses increased by 3.2 percentage points among whites, 4.0 percentage points among African Americans and 4.1 percentage points among Latinas.
Compared to African Americans and Latinas, a higher percentage of white breast cancer patients are diagnosed at Stage 1. This disparity decreased following the Affordable Care Act, as minorities saw modestly higher improvements in Stage 1 diagnoses.
Researchers concluded that further studies to evaluate the impact of the Affordable Care Act on cancer outcomes and disparities "should be supported as they will help inform future policy recommendations."
The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Avon Foundation.
The study is titled "Potential impact of the Affordable Care Act's preventive services provision on breast cancer stage: A preliminary assessment."
In addition to Silva, other co-authors are Talar Markossian, PhD, MPH, of Loyola's Department of Public Health Sciences; Yamile Molina, PhD, of the University of Illinois School of Public Health, and Nazia Saiyed, MPH, of the Sinai Urban Health Institute.

Monday, January 09, 2017

Cory Booker speaks out against Republicans Obamacare repeal & replace strategy

New Jersey Cory Booker took to the floor of the US Senate to implore his Republican peers to reconsider their ill fated strategy of repeal and replace when it comes to the Affordable Care Act.

Listen to his comments below:

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Monday, April 07, 2014

Obamacare 'accomplishing goal,' U.S. uninsured drops to six-year low

I guess the republicans/conservatives who promised doom and gloom will have to now explain why there was no apocalypse and the world did not explode because of the Affordable Care Act...LOL. George Cook AAReports.com

The percentage of Americans without health insurance dipped to its lowest in nearly six years due in part to U.S. President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law, commonly known as Obamacare, according to a Gallup poll released on Monday.

Some 15.6 percent of Americans lacked health insurance in the first three months of 2014, down from a high of 18 percent in late 2013, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey.

'Obamacare' appears to be accomplishing its goal of increasing the percentage of Americans with health insurance coverage," the report said.

Black and low-income Americans saw some of the most pronounced drops in the uninsured rate, with declines of more than 3 percentage points.

Read more here: Obamacare 'accomplishing goal,' U.S. uninsured drops to six-year low: poll

Thursday, March 27, 2014

African American Health Alliance encourages people to sign up for health care by March 31

On March 23rd Healthcare.gov released a new infographic explaining the ways to get assistance with signing up for health coverage by the March 31st deadline. The African American Health Alliance (AAHA) encourages those who are promoting enrollment to share the infographic. Fredette West, the Director of AAHA, remarked, "If you are seeking coverage, remember there are multiple ways for people to get help finding coverage in the final 5 days of the Affordable Care Act's first Open Enrollment period, which ends next Monday, March 31, 2014. This infographic released by Healthcare.gov is resource that should be shared widely." For more information on the Affordable Care Act, visit the http://africanamericanhealthalliance.org/ and Healthcare.gov CONTACT: 301-576-0845

About the African American Health Alliance

The African American Health Alliance is a 501 (c) 3 tax exempt organization working to help eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health and healthcare and to addressing the social determinants thereof including education, jobs and employment, nutrition, technology, violence and more. The Alliance is dedicated to strengthening advocacy, outreach and awareness for the purpose of helping to improve the quality of life. Across health and healthcare reform, we have helped to make considerable progress on behalf of the African American and other vulnerable communities. Our Board has tremendous expertise in the health and social determinants arena.