Only Two Thirds of ObamaCare Federal Exchange Enrollees Paid First Month’s Premium
From House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Oversight & Investigations Sub-Committee:
Data provided to the committee by every insurance provider in the health care law’s Federally Facilitated Marketplace (FFM) shows that, as of April 15, 2014, only 67 percent of individuals and families that had selected a health plan in the federally facilitated marketplace had paid their first month’s premium and therefore completed the enrollment process.
More details coming next week, when health-insurance industry leaders will testify in person.
So… how many originally uninsured are now insured thanks to Obamacare?
More importantly, if the ones who dropped out are mostly young people, will talk of a death spiral arise again?
This was expected, as many other things that were warned about Obamacare. But the administration rather ignored these wake up calls than to address them. It is the beginning of a great disaster.
It may be a bit of theatrics to deem it a great disaster, but ObamaCare will not be self sufficient if only 2/3 end up staying on their plans.
“As of April 15, Only 67 Percent of Enrollees in Federal Marketplace Had Paid First Month’s Premium”
This is what everyone was warning about. Not about how many have signed up, but how many will pay their first month premium.
Seeing that only 2/3s of citizens are reliable enough to pay their bill on time should send signals about the people that sign up on the exchanges.
So if 8 million signed up, that means about 2.6 could possibly go uninsured? And if so, how many of that are the young invincibles?
And… How many will continue to pay their premiums?
Very true. Are the price of premiums sustainable for the long haul, or will people realize a few months in that their money can be put to better use.
Two-thirds paid their premiums; one-third did not. I wonder how many of those premiums were actually paid by a hospital or doctor who wanted to ensure they would get reimbursed for an expensive procedure like cancer care. For that matter, I wonder how many of those paying premiums are high risk versus those not paying premiums? I would guess that the people most likely to pay are those who expect to need medical care. If this is in fact occurring, the adverse selection will drive up premiums next year.
I would assume that the ones paying their premiums are the high risk people that need it, and the ones not paying are the young invincibles. Unless everyone loses their coverage through their employer and goes to the exchanges, this may the only time they ever could get affordable.