Who benefits from Biden's move to reopen ACA enrollment
28 January 2021
Nearly 15 million Americans who are currently uninsured are eligible for coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces, and more than half of them would qualify for subsidies, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation brief.
Why it matters: President Biden is expected to announce today that he'll be reopening the marketplaces for a special enrollment period, but getting a significant number of people to sign up for coverage will likely require targeted outreach.
Details: Of the 15 million people eligible for ACA coverage, 4 million are eligible for a free high-deductible plan, 4.9 million would qualify for a subsidized plan and 6 million wouldn't qualify for any subsidy.
Between the lines: The uninsured who are eligible for ACA coverage with subsidies are disproportionately young adults, Hispanic, and working in the arts, entertainment, recreation, or construction industries.
- They're also more likely to have a high school diploma or less.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.