I wrote this before seeing Joan McCarter's diary. Please see the graphics embedded there!
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A quick diary here, highlighting a lead article over at the New York Times, The Affordable Care Act: Who Was Helped Most.
Here are the first two paragraphs:
We know that about 10 million more people have insurance coverage this year as a result of the Affordable Care Act. But until now it has been difficult to say much about who was getting that coverage — where they live, their age, their income and other such details.
Now a large set of data — from Enroll America, the group trying to sign up people for the program, and from the data firm Civis Analytics — is allowing a much clearer picture. The data shows that the law has done something rather unusual in the American economy this century: It has pushed back against inequality, essentially redistributing income — in the form of health insurance or insurance subsidies — to many of the groups that have fared poorly over the last few decades.
But the thing that really catches one's attention here are the graphics. Please take a look! (It's hard for me to get the images posted here from where I am working.)
And look hard at Wisconsin.
The first graphic is "Change in insured Americans, 2013-14," county-by-county. Looks ot me like two patterns: Areas (like the Northeast) where people were already relatively well insured. (See Massachusetts.) And areas where few have come aboard in since the ACA was implemented, due to the intransigence of the Republican politicians. (See much of the South -- except for Kentucky!) Wisconsin stands out: no gain since the ACA was put into action. Thanks, Walker.
Now scroll down tot he second graphic: "Who remains uninsured in 2014." Just plain stark! You guessed it: the South reigns, and big chunks of red America. And once again, Wisconsin stands out in the upper Midwest (with Indians and Michigan having no bragging rights either. Now compare Wisconsin to Minnesota and Iowa. Thanks again, Walker.
If Mary Burke were to plaster these two maps on TV ads the next five days, she would win in a landslide.
I'm telling you, Scott Walker, you're killing us here!.....