Statewide Iowa — Area residents who have health insurance through the Affordable Care Act are being reassured their policies are still valid, despite a federal judge’s ruling in Texas that parts of the ACA are unconstitutional.
Jordan Rasmussen, policy manager at the Center for Rural Affairs, says the mid-December ruling raises concerns, but insurance coverage will continue after January 1st while the case moves forward.
Rasmussen says it’s challenging for many farmers to get affordable health insurance and the ACA has provided coverage to many who couldn’t get it before.
The Center for Rural Affairs, based in Lyons, Nebraska, continues to back the ACA and supports any appeal that would be filed to keep it from being repealed.
Rasmussen says it doesn’t make sense to throw out the ACA without a replacement. A report from the Iowa Insurance Division says about 1.6-million Iowans take part in employer-based health insurance plans and another 1.2-million Iowans get benefits through Medicare and Medicaid. This year, about 107-thousand Iowans purchased health insurance on their own, while about 39-thousand Iowans remain in the individual ACA-compliant market.
