Does the ACA help older Americans?

One of my students (thanks Debbie) sent me a link to an AP story run by ABC: Older Americans Are Early Winners Under Health Law. As we have previously blogged, it’s not easy for an out of work older person to find a job.  Before the ACA, it was hard for the the unemployed person to also get health insurance, according to the story, hoping to be covered by Medicare prior to experiencing any health predicament.  With the ACA, they are, as the article describes them, “early winners” because they now are able to get health insurance. The article tells the story of several individuals between 55-64 who have been benefited by the ACA. Consider this:

Aging boomers are more likely to be in debt as they enter retirement than were previous generations… [o]ne in five has unpaid medical bills and 17 percent are underwater with their home values. Fourteen percent are uninsured.

As of December, 46 percent of older jobseekers were among the long-term unemployed compared with less than 25 percent before the recession.

And those financial setbacks happened just as their health care needs became more acute. Americans in their mid-50s to mid-60s are more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than other age groups, younger or older, accounting for 3 in 10 of the adult diabetes diagnoses in the United States each year. And every year after age 50, the rate of cancer diagnosis climbs.

The article succinctly illustrates how some individuals are benefiting by the implementation of the ACA.