This isn't your typical medical journal article: For one, the author has a law degree, not a M.D. Second, that author is President Obama.
In an unusual "special communication" published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, President Obama reflects on his signature health care law, calling it the "most important health care legislation enacted in the United States since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965."
Drawing on a wide range of evidence, Obama states his major, unsurprising findings: 20 million people have gained insurance, bringing the uninsured rate to 9.1 percent in 2015. He notes an increase in the number of non-elderly people who have a physician and access to medicine. He cites a study that found people who gained coverage through expanded Medicaid have greater financial security, reducing the debts sent to collection by $600 to $1,000. His most controversial argument is probably this: He credits the law with helping to control health care spending, a point that has been much debated. It's unclear how much of the slowdown in the growth of health care spending is due to the Great Recession and how much should be attributed to the law or other factors.
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