•Press Release Affordable Care Act COVID-19 Health and Social Programs
Washington DC — The usual barriers to affordable health care in the US continue to be magnified by the additional stress of a pandemic. Although the pandemic still rages, the future of the Build Back Better (BBB) Act that would have lowered many barriers to affordable health care is increasingly uncertain. This new article, released today by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), identifies the policy changes in the BBB Act that would close the Medicaid coverage gap.
As CEPR researcher Tamara Sokolowsky explains, there is a gap in Medicaid coverage for those too poor to qualify for subsidized private insurance under the Affordable Care Act, but not eligible for Medicaid. This coverage gap is only found in the 12 states that did not expand Medicaid to cover non-elderly low-income adults.
“Salvaging the Medicaid gap policies in the BBB Act would increase access to affordable health care through the marketplace and help the neediest survive in the most critical of times,” says Sokolowsky.
