Campaign Action
The Affordable Care Act is the Energizer Bunny of federal law. Nothing Republicans have done to try to kill it has stopped it from marching forward. Literally dozens of repeal votes by Republicans in the House, a total fiasco of a repeal attempt in the Republican Senate, and every bit of sabotage popular vote loser Donald Trump could throw at it, and it just keeps going.
Why? Us. We're not letting it happen. When Trump gutted the administration's traditional outreach for the upcoming plan year, the grassroots stepped up to try to fill the void, knowing that there was no way that we could match what the federal government could do to get the word out and get people signed up. Or is there?
More than 200,000 Americans chose a plan on Nov. 1, the day open enrollment began, according to one administration official. That's more than double the number of consumers who signed up on the first day of enrollment last year. More than 1 million people visited HeathCare.gov, the official federal website, this official said, which amounts to a roughly 33 percent increase in traffic compared to 2016. […]
But on opening day many state exchange officials said that enrollment had exceeded their projections.
Connect for Health Colorado spokesman Luke Clarke said state officials had anticipated 2,700 residents would log onto their exchange, but more than 4,000 did. "Enrollment year five could be a record year," Clarke said. "It's way ahead of where we were last year, and a big surprise."
More than double last year's signups on day one. More than double. That the response on the federal Healthcare.gov, which 38 states use to run their exchanges. The remaining 12 states and the District of Columbia operate their own exchanges. Charles Gaba has continued his heroic work of keeping track of enrollments for the new plan year, and his early indications from Maryland, Washington State, and California "were extremely promising starts (MD up 70%, CA up 25% and WA 'robust' in general)." Looks like that's a trend.
It's very early—not even a full week into the six week open enrollment period, and we've got to keep this momentum up. You can help, by joining the Open Enrollment Street Team volunteers helping Get America Covered. The more people who sign up, the harder it will be for Trump and the Republicans to take coverage away from millions.
It's easy to join an Open Enrollment Team! Click here to sign up now.
Can't volunteer at this time? Click here to share info about open enrollment on Facebook.