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In numbers released this week, Gallup polling found that around 16.5 million Americans have gained health insurance since the introduction of Obamacare.
Unfortunately about 38 million Americans still have no health insurance cover. Inability to pay medical bills is the biggest cause of bankruptcies in the US, with about 2 million bankruptcies occurring per year for that reason. Past estimates have suggested that about about 20,000 to 45,000 people per year die in the US due to lack of healthcare resulting from a lack of insurance. Presumably the success of Obamacare at causing one-third of uninsured people to get health insurance will reduce those numbers by a third.
America's lack of universal healthcare continues to baffle most of the rest of the Western world. America remains one of the only Western countries not to have universal healthcare for all citizens (the other notable exception being South Africa):
The implementation of Obamacare turned out to be significantly cheaper than previously estimated, with the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reducing its cost estimates for the program five times over the course of 5 years. Nonetheless, healthcare in the US remains significantly more expensive than other countries, with a comparison with other OECD countries showing the US paying 1.5 to 2.7 times more money per person for healthcare yet getting generally worse care for that money:
Many British people living in the US either already fly back to Britain regularly for healthcare purposes rather than get healthcare in the States, or say that they would do so were they to develop a serious health condition (eg as John Oliver has said on his show).
The high cost of healthcare in the US appears to come predominantly from the privatized nature of healthcare industry, as the US lacks a government-run single-payer system. This can be seen in:
1) The cost of drugs. Americans are forced to buy their drugs directly from the pharmaceutical companies at 'market rates'. In other countries, the government will act as a bulk buyer on behalf of the population and buy the necessary drugs at an average price that is 80-90% cheaper. (These governments will, in turn, typically subsidize the drugs out of taxpayer money when they resell them to their own citizens. eg here in New Zealand collecting a prescription costs $5 per drug, regardless of quantity or drug) Many Americans therefore buy prescription medication via Canada in order to get the same drug at a cheaper price.
2) The fees charged by hospitals. Hospitals in the US typically have three different rates at which they bill patients. If the patient is covered by medicare or medicaid then the government pays a low rate for the treatment which is set by the government based on an analysis of the actual costs involved. If the patient has insurance, the hospital charges a medium rate which they have previously negotiated with that particular insurer. If the patient has no insurance, the hospital charges their highest rate which is extra-high to account for the fact that a significant number of these patients will declare bankruptcy rather than ever pay the bill so the hospital passes those costs to the ones who do pay it. Obviously, the entire existence of the private insurance companies must be funded by the dollars of those people paying for healthcare, so the existence of the entire insurance industry pushes up the total price paid, as compared to those countries where the government simply runs the hospitals out of taxpayer money and provides free treatment for all citizens there.
Despite all these things, Republicans have relentlessly attacked Obamacare, voting to repeal it 54 times in 4 years. In an act of apparent complete hypocrisy, the zealous anti-Obamacare politician Ted Cruz now plans to sign up for Obamacare because it makes his health insurance cheaper. The Republicans are currently taking a case to the Supreme Court (King v Burwell), regarding some careless wording in the bill, which if they win will result in about 13 million people losing their health insurance, which could result in about 10,000 deaths per year due to lack of healthcare.
It's worth noting that a previous US Supreme Court decision ruled that individual states could decide to opt out of the Medicaid expansions mandated by Obamacare. As a result, 25 states did so (Republican controlled states) which led to about 5 million people lacking health insurance who would have otherwise had it. Yet polls show most Americans favor medicaid expansion, even in Red states.
To many observers in the rest of the Western world, arguments against universal healthcare seem akin to arguments against having a police force or having an education system. The idea that there should not be universal healthcare is generally not taken seriously, and non-US observers tend to therefore regard the US Republicans as being simply insane on this issue, as the Republicans insist on a system that is demonstrably more expensive than the costs other countries are paying and which appears to be causing the ongoing deaths of a significant number of their citizens due to lack of healthcare.
Unfortunately about 38 million Americans still have no health insurance cover. Inability to pay medical bills is the biggest cause of bankruptcies in the US, with about 2 million bankruptcies occurring per year for that reason. Past estimates have suggested that about about 20,000 to 45,000 people per year die in the US due to lack of healthcare resulting from a lack of insurance. Presumably the success of Obamacare at causing one-third of uninsured people to get health insurance will reduce those numbers by a third.
America's lack of universal healthcare continues to baffle most of the rest of the Western world. America remains one of the only Western countries not to have universal healthcare for all citizens (the other notable exception being South Africa):
The implementation of Obamacare turned out to be significantly cheaper than previously estimated, with the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reducing its cost estimates for the program five times over the course of 5 years. Nonetheless, healthcare in the US remains significantly more expensive than other countries, with a comparison with other OECD countries showing the US paying 1.5 to 2.7 times more money per person for healthcare yet getting generally worse care for that money:
Many British people living in the US either already fly back to Britain regularly for healthcare purposes rather than get healthcare in the States, or say that they would do so were they to develop a serious health condition (eg as John Oliver has said on his show).
The high cost of healthcare in the US appears to come predominantly from the privatized nature of healthcare industry, as the US lacks a government-run single-payer system. This can be seen in:
1) The cost of drugs. Americans are forced to buy their drugs directly from the pharmaceutical companies at 'market rates'. In other countries, the government will act as a bulk buyer on behalf of the population and buy the necessary drugs at an average price that is 80-90% cheaper. (These governments will, in turn, typically subsidize the drugs out of taxpayer money when they resell them to their own citizens. eg here in New Zealand collecting a prescription costs $5 per drug, regardless of quantity or drug) Many Americans therefore buy prescription medication via Canada in order to get the same drug at a cheaper price.
2) The fees charged by hospitals. Hospitals in the US typically have three different rates at which they bill patients. If the patient is covered by medicare or medicaid then the government pays a low rate for the treatment which is set by the government based on an analysis of the actual costs involved. If the patient has insurance, the hospital charges a medium rate which they have previously negotiated with that particular insurer. If the patient has no insurance, the hospital charges their highest rate which is extra-high to account for the fact that a significant number of these patients will declare bankruptcy rather than ever pay the bill so the hospital passes those costs to the ones who do pay it. Obviously, the entire existence of the private insurance companies must be funded by the dollars of those people paying for healthcare, so the existence of the entire insurance industry pushes up the total price paid, as compared to those countries where the government simply runs the hospitals out of taxpayer money and provides free treatment for all citizens there.
Despite all these things, Republicans have relentlessly attacked Obamacare, voting to repeal it 54 times in 4 years. In an act of apparent complete hypocrisy, the zealous anti-Obamacare politician Ted Cruz now plans to sign up for Obamacare because it makes his health insurance cheaper. The Republicans are currently taking a case to the Supreme Court (King v Burwell), regarding some careless wording in the bill, which if they win will result in about 13 million people losing their health insurance, which could result in about 10,000 deaths per year due to lack of healthcare.
It's worth noting that a previous US Supreme Court decision ruled that individual states could decide to opt out of the Medicaid expansions mandated by Obamacare. As a result, 25 states did so (Republican controlled states) which led to about 5 million people lacking health insurance who would have otherwise had it. Yet polls show most Americans favor medicaid expansion, even in Red states.
To many observers in the rest of the Western world, arguments against universal healthcare seem akin to arguments against having a police force or having an education system. The idea that there should not be universal healthcare is generally not taken seriously, and non-US observers tend to therefore regard the US Republicans as being simply insane on this issue, as the Republicans insist on a system that is demonstrably more expensive than the costs other countries are paying and which appears to be causing the ongoing deaths of a significant number of their citizens due to lack of healthcare.
Not that I don't trust, of course, that you're always right! 
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