ACA helped reduce health access disparities among racial groups

The nonprofit Commonwealth Fund is out with a report showing that since the Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010, it has reduced disparities in accessing health care among racial groups. Here’s more: 

• Insurance coverage: Almost a quarter of Black adults and 40% of Hispanic adults were uninsured in 2013, but those rates dropped to around 14% and 25%, respectively, in 2018. This also narrowed the disparity compared to white adults. 
• Financial barriers: 23% of Black adults avoided accessing health care in 2013 due to costs, but that dropped to 17% five years later. For Hispanic adults, the number fell from 28% to 21% over that time period. 
• Medicaid expansion: Black adults living in states that opted to expand Medicaid through the ACA are now less likely to be uninsured than white adults in non-expansion states.