Uninsured rate for Americans with pre-existing conditions dropped sharply when major Affordable Care Act reforms were first implemented

Uninsured rate for Americans with pre-existing conditions dropped sharply when major Affordable Care Act reforms were first implemented

Without ACA protections, more than half of non-elderly Americans could face discrimination in health care

Since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) became law, millions of Americans no longer face coverage denials, higher costs, or coverage carve outs because of their medical histories. A new analysis from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides a first look at what happened to uninsured rates for Americans with pre-existing health conditions when the ACA’s major insurance market reforms took effect in 2014. It finds that, between 2010 and 2014, the share of Americans with pre-existing conditions who went without health insurance all year fell by 22 percent, meaning 3.6 million fewer people with pre-existing conditions went uninsured.