Another 2.8 million to 3.9 million new customers will buy insurance on the exchanges when enrollment begins on November 1, the agency said.
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While it is not possible to determine from the data the subsequent coverage status of individuals who lost group coverage, there are four possibilities: (1) some obtained replacement individual-market coverage (either on or off the exchanges); (2) some enrolled in Medicaid; (3) some enrolled in other coverage for which they are eligible (such as a plan offered by their new employer, a spouse’s plan, a parent’s policy, or Medicare); and (4) some became uninsured.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported that, as of the end of 2014, 6,337,860 people were covered by individual-market plans purchased through ACA exchanges. This yearâs goal was 9.1 million paying customers, and the administration has said itâs on track to meet that.
Ten million people are expected to get health insurance coverage through the Obamacare insurance exchanges by the end of 2016, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced Thursday, as the government sees more conservative growth in the future than it had hoped.
“If enrollment plateaus, we may see growing discussion of whether the law is fulfilling expectations in covering the uninsured, and whether the subsidies for low- and middle-income people are sufficient to make coverage truly affordable”, said Larry Levitt, an expert on the law with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “We are here to help them validate that they have the best health insurance, and if they don’t, we’ll find them the best option at the cheapest price”. Then up to nearly 4 million uninsured people will select plans during open enrollment.
Burwell called the 10 million target a “strong and realistic goal”. Analysts have also said that significantly increasing the numbers of newly insured on the exchanges would prove more hard in future years. “Starting November 1, our targeted outreach campaign will reach Americans where they live, work and play to inform them of the opportunity to enroll or re-enroll in coverage”. In 2016, that penalty rises to the greater of $695 per adult or 2.5 percent of household income. “I applaud Lt. Governor Wyman and the Access Health Connecticut [the state’s insurance exchange] team for their ongoing efforts to ensure residents have access to quality healthcare”.
“We are seeing much longer path to the long-term equilibrium in the market”, said Richard Frank, who oversees planning and evaluations at HHS.
“Underlying this projection is the reality that the remaining uninsured are getting harder to reach, so it’s going to very tough to increase enrollment substantially”, Levitt said.
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Enrollment USA allows users to verify that their health plan is the most affordable, based on specific factors like prescription drugs, how much they are willing to pay out of pocket and how they prefer to pay for insurance. “This is uncharted territory and no one really knows for sure how people will react”.
