Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Obamacare still attracting clients
More than 12.2 million people across the nation have signed up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act so far in 2017.
WASHINGTON — More than 12.2 million people have signed up for coverage nationwide this year under the Obama-era health care law even with the uncertainty created by President Donald Trump’s vow to repeal and replace it.
A count by The Associated Press shows that many consumers returned to the program despite its problems. Aside from the political turmoil, those difficulties include a spike in premiums, rising deductibles and dwindling choice of insurers.
Although initial enrollment is about 4 percent lower than last year, the sizable number of signups illustrates the risk Republicans face as they begin moving to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and put in its place a yet-to-bedefined conservative approach.
AP’s analysis showed that a clear majority of those enrolled — nearly 64 percent — live in states that Trump carried in November.
The federal Health and Human Services Department reported last week that 9.2 million people signed up in the 39 states served by the HealthCare.gov website, which offers subsidized private health insurance to people who don’t have job-based coverage.
AP checked with the remaining 11 states, and Washington, D.C., and found an additional 3 million enrolled, for a national total of 12.2 million. A full national report from the government won’t be available for at least another month.
Under the health care law, the nation’s uninsured rate has fallen to a historic low of about 9 percent, with some 20 million people gaining coverage since its passage in 2010. In addition to the subsidized private plans available through HealthCare.gov and state marketplaces, the law offers states the option of extending Medicaid to cover more low-income adults.
Republicans say this year’s enrollment numbers do not constitute a success story for former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic legislation.
To begin with, the numbers are well short of the 13.8 million people that the Obama administration had hoped to sign up. Also, the public health insurance markets usually see high attrition as the year goes on, with about 1 in 5 customers eventually dropping out.
One state — Minnesota — took extraordinary measures to keep residents insured. The state has seen premium increases averaging from 50 percent to 67 percent, and lawmakers used $312 million in rainy day funds to buy down monthly rates for consumers who don’t get federal subsidies. Since most health law customers already get federal assistance, the bulk of the state money is going to residents who purchase plans outside the government-sponsored marketplace.
Supporters of the health care law say the political uncertainty about its future probably kept many people from signing up.
“We heard from consumers saying they thought Obamacare had ended with President Obama’s administration,” said Elizabeth Colvin, who heads the health care sign-up program at Foundation Communities, an Austin, Texas, nonprofit serving low-income working people.
Although Colvin said the confusion made it harder to reach consumers, her program signed up some 4,000 people, or about 6 percent more than last year.
“These numbers demonstrate that there’s a demand for this insurance,” she said.
AP’s national tally of sign-ups comes as the Senate is moving to confirm Georgia congressman Tom Price as the nation’s next health secretary. Price, an orthopedic surgeonturned-legislator, has authored his own plan to repeal and replace the Obama health law.
In confirmation hearings, he told senators that the new administration does not want to “pull the rug out” from people who now have coverage, and he all but acknowledged that there’s no Trump replacement plan ready to roll out.