“The people who say it doesn’t work now are the people who aren’t getting the subsidies and facing fines if they don’t enroll,” he said.
They’re also people who aren’t sick, he said.
“That’s an advantage people forget. Before, you couldn’t get insurance if you were sick.”
Gwinnett is a microcosm of a changing nation. Once overwhelmingly white, it’s now one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the U.S., largely because of its immigrant population. It had 73,839 people enrolled in Obamacare’s insurance exchange as of May, the most in the state. Two Gwinnett zip codes had 12 percent of residents enrolled in Obamacare, the most outside of Florida.
Obamacare has had the biggest impact on the area’s low-cost medical facilities. At Gwinnett Community Clinic in Snellville, staff began calling former patients this year after a 30 percent enrollment drop.
“The reason they were gone is that they now had insurance,” director Sheila Adcock said.
The same thing happened in Norcross, at a clinic run by Boat People SOS. Daily caseloads dropped to 10 from 20 after the organization helped enroll immigrants in Obamacare, said Han Nguyen, a health navigator.
Even enrollees with generous subsidies have complaints, said Adcock, who heard some during her phone outreach.
“If you are a person in poverty, you’re not used to the idea of co-pays and deductibles, and you’re wondering what you are paying for,” she said.Precarious Premiums
Charles Pierre, 58, a Haitian immigrant and substitute teacher, was among those signed up by Nguyen. He said his subsidized premium has already almost doubled, to $45 a month from $23, and that he also has a $35 co-pay to see a doctor.