Federal government figures released Tuesday indicate that an estimated 36,000 Alaskans gained health care coverage under President Barack Obama’s signature health care law between 2010 and 2015.
The data was released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with just weeks left in Obama’s administration and with many Republicans in Congress interested in replacing the law.
Aviva Aron-Dine, a senior counselor to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, says the state-level data touting the law’s benefits provides a lens through which to judge new proposals and whether they move the health care system forward or backward.
Members of Alaska’s congressional delegation have raised concerns with high premiums and less competition. Alaska is expected to have just one insurer offering individual health plans in 2017.