New Obamacare enrollments top 1 million
Apparently the rest of American was totally ignoring the Republican Senate last week when it voted to repeal Obamacare. (Ignoring the Republican Senate, by the way, is a fine thing to do these days.) Because while they were voting to take health insurance away from millions of people, lots of new customers were signing up. In fact, as of this week there are 1 million new ones. New customers. Not re-enrollees. Boom.
The officials cited the latest enrollment data as a reason for confidence in the long-term stability of HealthCare.gov, which was created under President Barack Obama's national healthcare law and sells individual insurance plans in 37 states.Private insurers including Anthem Inc, Aetna Inc and UnitedHealth Group Inc are among private insurers selling plans on HealthCare.gov, and who have said they are losing money on the business.
A top health official said during a conference call with reporters that the market is robust, with more than 100 insurers selling plans there.
"I would caution you not to be overly swayed by any one or a handful of companies and whether they are making money or not," said Andy Slavitt, acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
In addition, about 1.8 million people have renewed their plans so far, and Andrew M. Slavitt, the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, says demand continues to increase. "We are now seeing a surge of interest as we get closer to the deadline. […] Each day has been bigger than the day before." In case you need to know those deadlines: For insurance to be in effect on January 1, you need to enroll by December 15. Enrollment closes on January 31, and this year there won't be the special tax period enrollment window that the government offered last year.
Clearly, with 1 million new customers, Obamacare is on its death bed. Good on you, Republican Senate, for trying to finish it off. Too bad all the people who need health insurance aren't paying attention to you.