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Obamacare Wins: Texas Is Now The ONLY State With Uninsured Rate Above 20%

Obamacare Wins: Texas Is Now The ONLY State With Uninsured Rate Above 20%

The Affordable Care Act has been the law of the land for two years now, and the numbers of success keep rolling in. In 2013, before the passage of the healthcare law (also known as Obamacare), fourteen states had rates of uninsured citizens as high as 20%. Now, there is only one such state left, because their governor rejected Medicaid expansion and has fought tooth and nail to prevent their citizens from getting affordable healthcare.

Surprise! It’s Texas, who had a shocking 27% uninsured rate in 2013 and has barely managed to drop that down to 21% over the past two years. One in five Texans still do not have health insurance. On the other hand, California has halved their uninsured rate in that time; Kentucky and Arkansas, both red states, went from 20% uninsured to 9% during that same period.

It goes without saying that the most decreases in the rates of uninsured Americans took place in states which expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. A total of 16.4 million Americans have received health insurance since the law was enacted, bringing the national average down from 20% uninsured to 13.2%. It would appear that most of those people live in the South and Midwest, under Republican governors; New England states have covered 95% of their population.

It just goes to show how much of an impact the Affordable Care Act has had on the lives of Americans, and how Republican governors, while they reject the ACA, have utterly failed to to provide any kind of substantial alternative or relief for their constituents. We hope the people of Texas cast their vote for a President who will honestly look out for their well-being during the next election.

Colin Taylor
Opinion columnist and former editor-in-chief of Occupy Democrats. He graduated from Bennington College with a Bachelor's degree in history and political science. He now focuses on advancing the cause of social justice and equality in America.

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