Early Effects of the ACA on Women’s Health Measures

Excerpt

Women had challenges obtaining health insurance and accessing health care in the decade prior to passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Low-income women were at increased risk of being uninsured (40%) compared to higher income women (5%). Uninsured women reported that health costs were a substantial barrier to receiving care, resulting in going without or delaying care.¹ Since women have had unique challenges in obtaining health insurance and affording medical care, we hypothesized that the ACA would have differential effects on women of different income groups, with larger effects in lower-income women. The objectives of this study are to analyze the effects of the ACA on health insurance coverage and affordability of medical care for women by income level. …