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.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif. 83rd District) on Tuesday joined Cheddar to express her support for the protest movement rocking the nation and to officially endorse Joe Biden for president.
GOP Iowa Rep. Steve King lost his primary race , former CIA agent Valerie Plame, famously outed in a scandal involving the George W. Bush White House, lost her bid for a seat in New Mexico, and Joe Biden comes closer to the official Democratic nomination.
More than 4,000 people have been arrested over the last six days during sweeping protests across the country in response to the police killing of black Minneapolis resident, George Floyd. Cheddar's Megan Pratz takes a deep dive into the rights of protesters and how to protect yourself while demonstrating.
Stocks are closing higher on Wall Street for the third day in a row, continuing a stretch of gains for the market.
The state of Minnesota has filed a human rights complaint against the Minneapolis Police Department in the death of George Floyd who died after an officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for minutes, even after he stopped moving.
Nine states and the District of Columbia are voting. Tuesday's elections will be the largest slate of presidential primaries in almost three months.
Former NAACP President, Ben Jealous, sits with Cheddar's Jill Wagner to speak on nation's unrest and President Trumps response.
Joe Biden blistered President Donald Trump a day after police drove back peaceful protesters near the White House so Trump could pose with a Bible before a damaged church.
Rep. Clarke spoke to Cheddar about the NYPD and Mayor De Blasio's handling on two NYPD squad cars driving into a crowd of protesters over the weekend.
As demonstrations across the country grow more violent by the day, Rashad Robinson says a lack of leadership in the White House is part of the issue.
