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http://washingtonexaminer.com/significantly-fewer-uninsured-americans-gaining-coverage-under-obamacare-than-expected/article/2546552

Significantly fewer uninsured Americans gaining coverage under Obamacare than expected

With the official deadline for Americans to sign up for coverage through President Obama's health care law set for Monday at midnight, the Los Angeles Times is out with a story highlighting the millions of previously uninsured Americans who have gained coverage as a result of the law. But the numbers cited in the article are still significantly below projections of the Congressional Budget Office, both at the time the law was passed and as recently as February.

According to the Times, which cites a study from Rand Corp., "At least 6 million people have signed up for health coverage on the new marketplaces, about one-third of whom were previously uninsured." That suggests that two million uninsured Americans gained coverage as a result of the law.

Additionally, the article reports, "At least 4.5 million previously uninsured adults have signed up for state Medicaid programs." So between Medicaid and the private exchanges, that makes 6.5 million previously uninsured Americans who have now gained coverage.

At the time the law was passed, however, in March 2010, the CBO projected that in total, the ranks of the uninsured would be reduced by 19 million in 2014 relative to what would have been the case if not law had been passed.

It's true that since that time, the Supreme Court ruled that the Medicaid expansion, as designed, was unconstitutional, giving states the option of not expanding Medicaid -- which limited the effect of that provision.

But even as recently as February -- when analysts knew how many states weren't going along with the Medicaid expansion and were aware of the early technical glitches facing the rollout of Obamacare -- the CBO still projected that the law would reduce the number of uninsured by 13 million.

Even adding the 3 million young adults under 26 who were added to their parents' insurance policies, the resulting 9.5 million total would still be significantly below expectations.
[There are 10 states that have such laws, so they're counting 'under 26' as now covered by Obamacare when they were covered without Obamacare]

This doesn't even consider the number of people who have signed up for insurance through Obamacare who will actually be enrolled by consistently paying their insurance premiums.

The bottom line is that the best available evidence points to Americans gaining coverage due to the law -- a result that one would expect given the $2 trillion dedicated to that purpose over the next decade. But with all the progress that's been made since the exchanges were barely functional last fall, the gains are still well below expectations.

Baldo

Apr 7 2014, 09:06 AM

Gallup survey suggests sign-ups under ObamaCare not as high as White House says

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The decline of 1.5 percentage points would translate roughly to more than 3.5 million people gaining coverage.

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The administration says 7.1 million have signed up for subsidized private plans through new insurance markets, while 3 million previously uninsured people gained coverage through the law's Medicaid expansion.

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According to Gallup, the number of uninsured has fallen by a greater amount since the start of open enrollment on Oct. 1. Gallup shows the percentage spiked to 18 percent at the end of the third quarter.

But the spike could be attributed in part to people being kicked off their prior coverage, due to changes in the health care law. A look back at mid-2013 shows the percentage of uninsured, before the run-up to open enrollment, was also at 17.1 percent. So the number of people gaining coverage since then would still be roughly 3.5 million.

Still, it's not quite an apples-to-apples comparison. Gallup is counting just adults, while the administration figures include children as well.

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/07/gallup-survey-suggests-sign-ups-under-obamacare-not-as-high-as-white-house-says/

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfiIW_-6ILQ
Elise Viebeck misinforms caller on Obamacare
(2 minute video)

On 4/7/2014 Elise Viebeck [of The Hill] misinformed viewers about pending litigation with respect to the subsidy provision of Obamacare. It appears this reporter who "reports only facts" on Obamacare is painfully unaware about four cases in the courts currently challenging the illegal IRS interpretation of the plain text of the law. The caller asks what happens if these cases win and individuals who have been promised subsidies aren't able to get them. Elise spins away with misinformation and partisan attacks on Republicans.