Could Obamacare Become a Generational Problem for Democrats?

Joseph Curl notes in his column this week that the Obama administration has reason to panic. Not enough millennials are signing up for Obamacare, and they’re tuning Barack Obama out. A majority — 54% — would vote to boot him out of office right now.

Now, on his way out of the House, Democrat Rep. Jim Moran (VA) admits that the numbers for Obamacare sign-ups just aren’t adding up.

More than 40,000 Virginians signed up for health insurance on the federal exchange last month. Only 27 percent of those were young adults — the group needed to fund the new system. Moran says he doesn’t think those numbers are going to get much better.

“I’m afraid that the millennials, if you will, are less likely to sign up. I think they feel more independent, I think they feel a little more invulnerable than prior generations,” Moran says. “But I don’t think we’re going to get enough young people signing up to make this bill work as it was intended to financially.”

If Moran’s prediction is correct, the whole law could unravel. He says there just isn’t enough incentive for healthy young people to sign up for insurance.

There are a couple of major flaws leading to fewer millennials than needed signing up. One, it’s cheaper just to pay the fine for violating the individual mandate than to buy insurance that most young people don’t need. Young single men don’t need to buy pregnancy and mammography coverage, but Obamacare mandates it, making policies more expensive. Additionally, Obamacare allows younger people to stay on their parents’ plans until they’re 26. That slices off the 18-26 part of the 18-34 demo that needs to sign up in greater numbers.

Naturally, Moran’s solution is a state-run system for everyone.

Moran supported covering everyone under Medicare, which would have been expensive but have avoided this problem.

Which is where Democrats hope Obamacare’s end-game failure will lead.

I’m not sure that they’re right about that. The entire Democrat party, electeds and pundits alike, have gone all in on Obamacare. If it fails, what does that do to their credibility? Who will look at the wreckage and conclude that we really need to do is give the same people who just destroyed America’s healthcare system the power to “fix” it however they want to?

Curl’s column suggests that Obamacare could become a generational problem for the Democrats.