As Washington debates whether the country should repeal the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, applicants are rushing to get covered, reportedly driving applications to a record high.
“I’m glad that the people understand the importance of getting coverage,” Donna Christensen, the former delegate for the U.S. Virgin Islands’ at-large district, told Cheddar on Wednesday.
But many still remain uninsured. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 28.2 million people under the age of 65 did not have coverage in 2016.
For context, that's a smaller proportion than before Obamacare passed. The federal agency said that the percentage of people uninsured now stands at 9 percent, compared to 16 percent in 2010.
Many uninsured and current beneficiaries of the Act worry that a repeal would be in place by 2019 and that time is running out. However, Christensen argues that this is not the case. She says it’s going to be very hard for Congress to repeal ACA.
“The Affordable Care Act is still the law of the land,” the ex-congresswoman said, stating that she doubts a repeal would ever happen.
“It was not easy to get the law passed, but it’s going to be more difficult to take it away,” Christensen said.
She encouraged the uninsured to seek coverage by December 15th this year, pointing out that benefits will be valid into the next year.
Congressional Budget Office director Keith Hall put out a blog post on the federal agency’s website on Wednesday. He says that according to the CBO’s most recent baseline, repealing Obamacare's individual mandate would reduce the nation’s federal budget deficit by $338 billion within the next decade. That's less than the previous estimate of $416 billion, made last December.
Despite uncertainty on who exactly will be in the White House, the Senate in GOP control, and the House in Democratic hands, Wall Street is riding high.
President Trump won support from about 8 in 10 white evangelical Protestant voters, according to the AP VoteCast. But Catholic voters split almost evenly between him and Joe Biden.
Election officials in key battlegrounds are pressing forward with vote counting, two days after Election Day. Democrat Joe Biden is urging patience, while President Donald Trump is pursuing legal options, insisting the processing of ballots should be stopped.
Katie Hobbs, Arizona's Secretary of State, joined Cheddar to discuss the safety of poll workers as President Trump levels accusations at the process and when Americans can expect an update.
Michigan Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson joined Cheddar to discuss Trump's attempts to increase doubt in the election process and the state's security protocols that were taken to protect against such attacks.
The Fed announced no new actions after its latest policy meeting but left the door open to provide further assistance in the coming months.
As Democrat Joe Biden inches closer to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House, President Donald Trump’s campaign has put into action the legal strategy the president had signaled for weeks.
Joe Biden has won Michigan and Wisconsin, pushing him closer to 270 Electoral College votes and narrowing President Donald Trump’s path to reelection.
The Trump campaign says it has filed lawsuits Wednesday in Pennsylvania and Michigan, laying the groundwork for contesting the outcome in undecided battleground states.
Councilman Ritchie Torres became the first openly gay Black man to win a Congressional seat on Election Day. He will now represent New York's 15th District recently vacated by long-time Congressman José Serrano.
