After a famously rocky rollout, Obamacare is proving itself a success by important – if still early – national metrics.
According to recent polling by Gallup, 5 percent of Americans – or about 16 million people – reported becoming newly insured in 2014. More than half said they purchased their new insurance through health-care exchanges.
The Affordable Care Act has made a difference in La Plata County, too.
San Juan Basin Health Department’s Kevin O’Connor said about 1,000 people already had signed up for insurance through Colorado’s health-care marketplace, Connect for Health Colorado.
“We feel very good about that number,” he said. “It’s comparable to what we’ve seen in other counties of similar size.
“This is my personal opinion, but I’ve seen it help an enormous amount of people save an enormous amount of money. About 75 percent of the people I’ve helped enroll have received a significant subsidy.”
The ACA also may be changing the kind of care Durangoans have access to.
Last week, about 15 Durango residents settled into a meeting room at Durango Public Library to talk to representatives from Colorado HealthOP, Colorado’s first statewide nonprofit health-insurance cooperative, who came to Durango as part of their “listening tour” of the state.
Kristin Van Horn, Colorado HealthOP’s community outreach coordinator, opened by saying, “We’re here to figure out how we can better effect change in small communities in Colorado and make sure your needs don’t get swept up by those of the big metro areas, like Denver.”
She touted Colorado HealthOP’s “unique model”: Unlike other insurance companies, its customers will be able to vote for its board members, and the cooperative says it is controlled by its customers, not outside investors – giving them a greater role in their health care.
She asked the room about health-care needs in Durango and got a torrent of responses.
For people who don’t qualify for subsidies, premiums are too high; Durango lacks specialists; for many people who live beyond city limits and transportation to and from the doctor’s office is too expensive and sparsely existent.
Additionally, almost no doctors are taking new Medicaid patients; there’s no adequate mental health care.
San Juan Basin’s O’Connor was at the meeting.
Afterward, he said, “I thought that the meeting was very useful. I’d never heard of another insurance company doing anything like that.
“It’s unusual and very gratifying to know that insurance companies are willing to go to such great lengths to hear not just from their policyholders, but from the public.”
cmcallister@durangoherald.com
