There are 73 million Americans currently covered by Medicaid.
Thank President Obama. Or don’t.
“The first thing to note about the Affordable Care Act is that it’s really a story about Medicaid expansion,” says Healthcare Policy analyst Emily Evans in the video above. “There are approximately 73 million people now on Medicaid. That’s up from 52 million before the Affordable Care Act was implemented.”
In other words, based on current numbers, enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP (the Children’s Health Insurance Program) increased 28% since ACA became effective. Moreover, the current number of Medicaid enrollees fluctuates on a monthly basis. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates it could be as high as 98 million on any given month.
By Evans’ back-of-the-envelope calculation, the repeal of Obamacare would affect roughly 10 million people, after accounting for the natural increase in the number of Medicaid enrollees.
But Republicans have a plan to replace ACA.
