During the Medical Innovation Summit in Cleveland this week, CMS Administrator Seema Verma made a stunning admission — the Affordable Care Act is working.
Despite President Trump repeatedly saying it’s a failure and demanding its repeal, Administrator Verma shared a more accurate view, saying:
“The ACA did cover more people, it did drive up quality across the country, but it did not control the escalating cost of healthcare.”
For months, the Trump administration has argued that the Affordable Care Act meant fewer people would have access to coverage and the coverage wasn’t any good. The truth is:
- 20 million Americans got health care because of the Affordable Care Act, taking our uninsured rate to the lowest point in history at the start of the Trump administration.
- The Affordable Care Act strengthened the quality of coverage by requiring insurance companies to cover those with pre-existing conditions, outlawing junk insurance policies and ensuring coverage for preventative care like routine doctor’s visits and certain cancer screenings.
It’s going to be hard for the GOP to argue it was a failure any more. Thanks, Administrator Verma!
Unfortunately, Verma also said that the Affordable Care Act did not control the escalating costs of health care, but she must have missed the fact that at the start of the Trump administration, health care price inflation had risen at the slowest rate in 50 years. Well, can’t get it all right…