Bernie Sanders is of the opinion that a repeal of Obamacare could potentially lead to a huge number of deaths each year.
With the Congress considering partial repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Bernie Sanders tweeted on Jan, 12 that 36,000 people may die yearly as a result.
As Republicans try to repeal the Affordable Care Act, they should be reminded every day that 36,000 people will die yearly as a result.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 12, 2017
Bernie Sanders arrived at the figure through a calculation done by American political news blog ThinkProgress. The news blog based the figure on new data from Urban Institute, which conducts economic and social policy research.
Urban Institute recently examined the number of people who will become uninsured if the law is repealed.
It also conducted a study of mortality rates of the state of Massachusetts before and after health reforms similar to Obama Care were enacted.
It was assumed by ThinkProgress that 29.8 million people will lose their insurance and one person out of every 830 people will lose their cover, which gives a figure of 35,903 deaths.
Although the 36,000 deaths per year number may appear huge, it was based on two assumptions.
The first assumption was done by Urban Institute regarding the 28.9 million figure. The report assumed that Republicans may abolish parts of the ACA without a replacement plan, which may lead to the collapse of non-group insurance market.
It can also be argued that not all insured people will automatically lose insurance coverage as a recent study indicates that most people are already eligible for Medicaid under the “woodworker” effect.
According to the Washington Post, Sanders went on to apply assumptions like Republicans will abolish Obamacare without any policy replacement. The Massachusetts study’s data can be applied to the ACA and also the worst possible impact from the policy.
With so many assumptions in one place, it is difficult to conclude a factual result. The Washington Post also says that if any one of the above assumptions is taken away, then Bernie Sanders’ theory of 36,000 deaths annually falls apart.
In any event, the figure of 36,000 deaths each year is a very high estimate based only on assumptions.
Obamacare, An Idea Of Republicans
The term Obamacare was initially termed a derogatory word by the Republicans. The Term is a more popular word for Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or ACA.
The ACA went on to become a more formal way of addressing the health policies used only on official documents and whitepapers.
The provision under this act includes, Individual Insurance, subsidies, individual and business mandates, insurance standards regarding essential health benefits, contraceptives, State Waivers and other general provisions.
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