Comment: Was it all for nothing? Did the people who couldn’t make a website in three-and-a-half years just turn American healthcare upside down, cut the choices, increase cost, and take it over for nothing? The whole reason given for the ACA’s existence was to make healthcare more affordable so uninsured people could get insured. However, uninsured people aren’t buying it. Literally.
“”Only 11% of consumers who bought new coverage under the law were previously uninsured,” according to a survey [...] reported in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal.”
[...] “That’s even worse than I thought it would be [...]––and that is saying something. The vast majority of the individual cancellations, particularly because of the early renewal and extension programs, are yet to come. The same can be said for the small group renewals.”
[...] “When McKinsey asked why subsidy eligible people weren’t buying, 52% cited affordability as the reason. Readers of this blog will know that I’m not shocked to hear that given what I have been writing about the high after-tax premiums, net of the subsidies, people are finding, as well as the high deductibles and narrow provider networks the subsidized Silver and lowest cost Bronze exchange plans are offering people.”
[...] “California, Washington state, New York, Connecticut, Kentucky, and Colorado are also only enrolling a very small number of people relative to the number of policy cancellations in their markets and the size of their uninsured population.”
[...] “I will suggest that the significant number of the new enrollees coming over from discontinued employer coverage should be troubling to Democrats. While low paid workers might fare better in the exchanges, many of those eligible for federal subsidies, particularly in two-income families, will fare far worse compared to the plan their employer offered them. Creating a circumstance that forces people to lose their employer coverage is not going to be a political win.”
“The WSJ also reported that Michigan insurers expected a total of 400,000 new exchange enrollments out of the 1.2 million uninsured but so far have signed-up only 76,000 people, “many of whom were previously insured.” ” (emphasis added)
Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review
Bob Laszewski
Sunday, January 19, 2014
http://healthpolicyandmarket.blogspot.com/2014/01/survey-data-and-market-reports-say.html