The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Repeal talk affects health care sign-ups
Many, but not all, enrollment groups see fewer enrollees.
WASHINGTON — A flurry of actions by President Donald Trump and Congress against the Affordable Care Act injected confusion and uncertainty into the final weeks of the annual period to sign up for coverage, and many, but not all, enrollment groups were reporting a drop in people seeking insurance as Tuesday’s overnight deadline loomed.
The actions include the executive order that Trump signed hours after his inauguration, directing federal agencies to take all possible steps to minimize the “burdens” the law imposes, and House and Senate votes to begin the process of repealing the law. The Trump administration also scaled back advertisements that encourage people to sign up for health insurance under the law, although after a public backlash late last week, the administration decided not to pull the ads altogether.
Interviews with about two dozen enrollment counselors and insurance agents around the country suggested that in some states, including Alaska, New York and Washington, a steady flow of people were signing up until the last minute.
Yet in many other places, counselors who help people sign up for insurance under the seven-year-old law said that enrollment had flattened in recent weeks and that the burst of activity they had come to expect at the end of open enrollment had not occurred.
“Some people ask, ‘What’s the point if the law is going to be repealed?’ ” said Emily Black Bremer, an insurance agent in Clayton, Mo., outside St. Louis.
“Should they rush to get in before the ACA is cut off ? Should they give up because it’s all going away? It’s a tricky situation.”
The number of people who signed up for or renewed coverage during this fourth enrollment period will be an important sign of whether the individual insurance market will remain stable over the coming months as Republicans work to repeal the law and try to come to a consensus on what to replace it with.
Over the last few weeks, Trump has promised to replace the law with better, cheaper coverage “for everybody,” while Republicans in Congress have struggled to come up with a plan that could come close to meeting the president’s goals and have expressed growing alarm at Trump’s demand for speed.