News Report | November 23, 2020
ACA Resulted In Lower Out-Of-Pocket Spending For Low-Income Families
Low- and middle-income families with children experienced a larger reduction in their out-of-pocket (OOP) health care costs than higher income families in the first four years after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) went into effect. For families at or below 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL)—in 2017, this was $33,948 per year for a family of four—the share of families with high OOP burden (more than 3.45% of annual household income, or $1,171 or more) dropped from 35.6% pre-ACA to 23.7% of families post-ACA . . .