Less than three months ago, it seemed like Obamacare didn't have so many fans in red states. Many elected officials who supported the Affordable Care Act lost their seats after blistering attacks. The media
pounced on polls about voters supposedly rejecting Obamacare.
But at America’s kitchen tables, or more likely, at family computers, a different story is unfolding – and enrollment success stories are popping up in the places you’d least expect.
According to new data released by HHS, more than 9.5 million people had signed up for a Marketplace plan by January 18th. That figure does not include millions more enrolled in Medicaid. Given that the Administration’s own goal was 9.1 million enrolled, this year’s Open Enrollment period is looking quite rosy. One more sign of growing interest in health care: 42% of this year’s enrollees have selected plans for the first time on the federal Marketplace.
In states where elected officials tried to position themselves as skeptics of affordable health care during 2014 campaigns, their constituents have chosen to enroll regardless, indicating a shift in political tides.
In Florida, for example, Governor Rick Scott spent millions painting his opponent as an Obamacare supporter in his race for the Governor’s seat. Since then, Florida has led the nation in enrolling residents: 1.2 million Floridians have signed up for a plan. One zip code outside of Miami holds the record of the most enrollees in the country.
Other states where anti-Obamacare in past years ran deep, such as North Carolina, Georgia, Idaho and Virginia have also seen higher than average percentages of eligible residents sign up for coverage. In North Carolina, Senator Kay Hagan lost her seat after enduring millions of dollars worth of ads pillorying her support of the ACA. The state is now 6% above the national average in percentage of eligible residents enrolled. In Georgia and Kentucky, senatorial candidates Michelle Nunn and Alison Lundergan Grimes refused to even say whether they would’ve voted for the law for fear of being tied to it. Despite their reluctance, both still lost their elections. Now, both states have seen above average enrollment percentages.
One could understand their reluctance to tie themselves to a law for which they did not vote. Much of the opposition to the ACA is due to the cost of the law. But, to add to the positive week, the Congressional Budget Office released a report on this week stating that the cost of Obamacare will actually be 20% cheaper than originally estimated.
Dig deeper into the enrollment data and it keeps looking better. For example, consumers under the age of 30 can elect to buy a cheaper catastrophic plan on the marketplace, but aren’t. Only 1% of plans selected are catastrophic, meaning young adults are opting for more comprehensive coverage. That’s likely because they can now afford better coverage -- 87% of enrollees are eligible for financial assistance.
Other nuggets of good news are also buried in the report. Industry experts often try to point to the proportion of young adults as a benchmark for risk pool health, counting on younger people who tend to be healthier to balance the cost of more expensive customers. More than a quarter of enrollees -- 26% -- are between the ages of 18 and 34 years old. That’s higher than the percentage of young adult enrollees at this time last year.
And this enrollment figure is likely to rise. Last year, young adults seemed to rush to enroll as the deadline neared. With this year’s deadline looming, coupled with a nationwide push this week to encourage young adult enrollment, we can expect to see more young adults signing up to get covered, no matter which state they live in.