Repealing the Affordable Care Act will kill more than 43,000 people annually

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I disagree with Cato on a lot of things, but I have to go with him on this.  The only way to authoritatively state that removing this insurance programme will kill 43 000 people per year would be to show proof that it has saved the lives of a comparable number, that is, people you can definitively demonstrate would have died without this insurance. If that were the case, one would think Mrs. Clinton would have been shouting it from the rooftops all throughout the campaign.

If you got no insurance, something as banal as a cold can kill you. Or a bad tooth, or the flu. I'm not entirely sure how many people are now insured that didn't get the chance before the ACA, but I don't think the number of 43.000 is too high. If everyone with preexisting conditions loses their insurance again, they will die, sooner rather than later.

The fact that life expectancy is lower in the US than in most, if not all, other western countries, is down to the simple fact that many people don't have access to needed medical treatments.

I'm not saying that people without health insurance aren't at a greater risk of death (I'm ugly, not stupid). But to nail down a number as specific as 43 000 isn't supportable unless you know that a comparable number had their lives saved by this particular insurance scheme.

If this insurance is taken away - with nothing to replace it - people die will every year due to lack of insurance and health care services, no possible doubt of it. It may be six people, it may be 60 000. It may be 150 000. I just don't think it's actuarially reasonable to peg such a specific number.

Boru