Obamacare beneficiaries greatly relieved to know they will remain covered

Sandra Cervantes produced this story as a project for the USC Center for Health Journalism's California Fellowship. 

Several people who benefitted from health coverage through the Affordable Care Act gathered at a public event in Sacramento to celebrate a third failure to repeal the law also known as Obamacare. Participating beneficiaries included Martín Jackson, a war veteran whose basic health coverage prior to 2010 forced him to rely on emergency room care. He now has hospitalization and medicines covered under MediCal. 

Another attendee was Pedro Bautista, a stroke survivor, who has had amputations because of advanced diabetes, and is on dialysis. He is being covered by MediCal in spite of pre-existing conditions, but fears he may lose his benefits.

Up to 3.7 million Californians benefitted from the state’s MediCal expansion under Obamacare. Cary Sanders, of the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, advises patients to continue to be vigilant, but to rely on services currently covered by Obamacare. Political analyst Arnoldo Torres said no major changes are expected in the law, because Republicans do not have the votes they need in the Senate.

[This video was originally published by Univision.]