To The GOP's Horror, The Uninsured Rate Keeps Dropping

The congressional Republicans have told a bundle of lies about the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), but perhaps the silliest one is that it just wouldn't work -- it wouldn't significantly reduce the number of uninsured Americans. But, as this chart from the Gallup Poll shows, Obamacare has worked well to reduce the percentage of uninsured people.

From the third quarter of 2013 through the first quarter of 2015, the percentage of uninsured Americans has dropped by 6.1%. Considering that the population of the United States is slightly over 320,000,000, that 6.1% would translate into about 19,520,000 people who now have insurance (but didn't have it prior to Obamacare going into effect).

That's a huge number of newly insured people. But the number could be much higher if not for the Red State "death panels" (the Republican-controlled legislatures in the states that have refused to expand Medicaid). These red state Republicans have tried to destroy Obamacare by refusing to cooperate and expand Medicaid. But they have failed in their goal to hurt Obamacare (as the chart shows). All they have done is to continue killing poor people by refusing them the insurance that could allow them to get preventative care.

They continue to vote to repeal Obamacare in the U.S. Congress (including that in their most recent budget proposal), but that is just for show (to keep their teabagger base happy). I can't believe they really want to go into the 2016 election having taken insurance away from that 19.5 million people (and subjected many others to pre-existing conditions that would raise rates or deny insurance). They are counting on the Democrats (and the president) to keep that from happening.

But there is a bigger danger to Obamacare than the silly theatrical attempts by congressional Republicans to repeal it. Some right-wingers have filed suit to destroy Obamacare by making the government subsidies received through the federal exchange illegal -- and that case is pending before the Supreme Court. If that court rules the subsidies are illegal, them more than 8 million Americans stand to lose their insurance (see chart below).

What will the Republicans do if they actually win this court case? Going into an election after angering 8 million people is not as bad as angering 19.5 million, but it is certainly no way to win an election. I hope they don't win the court case, but if they do, it will certainly put them in a dilemma (one of their own making) -- and it will be interesting to see how they try to squirm out of it.