How South Carolina — and all the states — will be affected by Obamacare repeal

On the day of his inauguration, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to undo the Affordable Care Act, or ACA. Republican senators followed up with budget reconciliation on Jan. 12 to begin defunding large sections of the law, followed by the U.S. House Jan. 14.

The ACA, also known as Obamacare, enrolled more than 20 million people in insurance by early 2016. Its reversal is expected to raise the uninsured rate by an estimated 18 million in the first year following repeal, and 32 million by 2026, according to official estimates.

But the effects of ACA repeal are not equally spread among the states. Financial website WalletHub conducted an analysis of seven indicators, such as growth in the uninsured ranks and potential economic effects from loss of tax credits and Medicaid expansion, to rank states by the effect of ACA repeal. South Carolina ranked 7th least affected. Click or tap on states for their ranking information. Scroll below the map and table to read more about what indicators were used to determine the ranking.

Methodology

In order to assess the impact of the ACA’s repeal at the state level, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across seven key metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most negative outcome for the state.

The authors then calculated the overall score for each state and the District using its weighted average across all metrics and constructed a final ranking based on the resulting scores.

• Growth in Uninsured Population by 2019 Post-ACA Repeal: Double Weight (~23.53 Points)
• Note: This metric compares the uninsured population in 2016 against the uninsured population in 2019, assuming the ACA is repealed.
• Growth in Uninsured Population in 2021 (ACA Effective vs. Repealed): Double Weight (~23.53 Points)
• Note: This metric compares the uninsured population in 2021 if the ACA remains in effect against the uninsured population in 2021 if the ACA is repealed.
• Presence of Planned Parenthood Funding: Half Weight (~5.88 Points)
• Note: This is a binary metric that considers whether the state funds or has defunded Planned Parenthood. Repealing the ACA would partly entail defunding Planned Parenthood across the board.
• Potential Jobs Lost Due to Repeal of Tax Credits and Medicaid Expansion in 2019: Full Weight (~11.76 Points)
• Potential Economic Impact Due to Repeal of Premium Tax Credits & Medicaid Expansion (2019 to 2023): Full Weight (~11.76 Points)
• Growth in Uncompensated Care Costs in 2021 (ACA Effective vs. Repealed): Full Weight (~11.76 Points)
• Note: This metric compares the uncompensated care costs in 2021 if the ACA remains in effect against the uncompensated care costs in 2021 if the ACA is repealed. “Uncompensated Care” refers to “hospital care provided for which no payment was received from the patient or insurer,” as defined by the American Hospital Association.
• Share of Young Adults with Health-Insurance Coverage: Full Weight (~11.76 Points)
• Note: Under the ACA, dependent adult children are eligible for health-insurance coverage through their parents’ policies until the age of 26. Repealing the ACA would eliminate such eligibility, resulting in a large number of young dependent adults lacking insurance coverage. Thus, the larger the current percentage of the population aged 18 to 26 with health insurance, the more the state stands to lose upon dissolution of the ACA. Please note, however, that this metric considers only the population aged 18 to 24 due to demographic data grouping by the U.S. Census Bureau, which includes the population aged 25 to 26 within the 25 to 34 age bracket.

This story was originally published January 25, 2017 at 9:24 AM with the headline "How South Carolina — and all the states — will be affected by Obamacare repeal."