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.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, July 30, 2019.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, July 30, 2019.
The legislation signed by the N.Y. governor will reduce penalties for possession and expunge existing criminal records for hundreds of thousands of residents.
Laura Gómez sat down with Cheddar to discuss the seventh, and final, season of the hit Netflix series, which sees the character she plays, Blanca Flores, navigate an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.
Michigan Democratic Chairwoman Lavora Barnes encourages presidential hopefuls to take Michigan seriously when it comes to the campaign and not just focus on the early races, like Iowa or New Hampshire.
Residents of Baltimore are working to showcase the best that their hometown has to offer, just days after President Trump attacked Congressman Elijah Cummings and described the city as a "a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess."
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, July 29, 2019.
Chicago-based cannabis company Cresco Labs unveiled a new dispensary and retail cannabis shop concept on Monday. Called Sunnyside, the concept emphasizes health and wellness and aims to create an accessible, immersive retail environment that pushes Cresco along on its mission of creating a nationally-recognizable cannabis brand.
The California Democrat said that supportis growing, pointing to five more members of his party who have come to support impeachment proceedings since Mueller's testimony.
Shares of CannTrust surged 15 percent on Friday after the Canadian cannabis company announced it terminated CEO Peter Aceto in the midst of regulatory drama that has plundered the company's stock value. Jefferies' analyst Ryan Tomkins predicted the management shuffle in a Wednesday note, which called management's positions "untenable."
