The Commonwealth Fund’s recently released Scorecard on State Health System Performance for Low-Income Populations finds that people who live in households with below-average incomes are disproportionately at risk for experiencing the shortcomings of the U.S. health care system. With the Affordable Care Act, however, state and local leaders now have significant new resources and tools to begin to close the geographic and income divide in health care. In this issue brief, Commonwealth Fund researchers show which provisions of the health reform law will most benefit Americans with low or modest incomes, including: affordable health insurance options, initiatives to strengthen primary care and improve care coordination, support for providers serving low-income communities, greater accountability for the quality and cost of care, and investments in public health.
Population of focus: Low income individuals
Link to resource: The Affordable Care Act’s New Tools and Resources to Improve Health and Care for Low-Income Families Across the Country (pdf).
Date: 2013
Organization: The Commonwealth Fund