This is going to make Republicans even more rabid about trying to shut down Obamacare before the health insurance exchanges launch Oct. 1: A
survey by
USA Today of 19 states finds that their estimates of how many uninsured residents will sign up for insurance on the exchanges far outstrips the federal government's estimates. Those 19 states estimate a combined 8.5 million uninsured people enrolling on the exchanges. The government had estimated 7 million for all 50 states. California alone is expected to enroll 5.3 million.
This is potentially huge for the program. First of all, more of the currently uninsured will be getting access to health care. More people means more healthy people in the system, which means premiums can be kept lower for everyone.
"For the most part, that's a very good thing," said Paul Ginsburg, president of the Center for Studying Health System Change. "First, these are people who need health insurance. And second, the scenario that only sick people will enroll is less likely." [...]
The states said they made their estimates based on how many individuals are uninsured and aren't likely to become insured by an employer, what insurers in their states expect and conversations with HHS about reasonable goals.
"It's not a positive development for the Republican opponents who would like to see this fail," Ginsburg said. "But it's still very early in the process."
It is early in the process, but nonetheless extremely encouraging, at least for supporters of the program. But it is very bad news from Republicans, who are still doing their damnedest to convince young, healthy people that they should be sacrificing their own health for the goal of defeating President Obama. Expect the defund crowd to get increasingly shrill and increasingly unhinged with this news.