Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 10, 2015, before the House Ways and Means Committee hearing on President Barack Obama’s health care law.
(AP photo)
Yesterday we learned that despite penalties, subsidies, and mandates, ♡bamaCare!!! hasn’t done much to increase private health insurance coverage. But surely next year will be better, yes?
No.
Fewer than one million additions are expected next year:
The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 10 million people will be covered by private health insurance policies obtained via the Affordable Care Act’s exchange marketplaces in 2016, an increase of just 900,000 from the 9.1 million people the department estimates will have such plans by the end of this year.
This nearly flat estimate of growth on the exchanges reflects both the successes so far and the challenges ahead for the the new marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act. The nationwide uninsured rate has plummeted since 2013 as an estimated 15 million people gained coverage from the exchanges or the law’s expansion of Medicaid eligibility. But Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell acknowledged last month that those uninsured most eager to enroll have already done so, and that the remaining millions would be difficult to reach.
You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him buy catastrophic coverage at Cadillac prices.
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