The administration is officially playing catch-up to lure its prized demographic onto Obamcare, new data shows.
The Department of Health and Human Services released an initial age breakdown of healthcare law signups Monday, revealing that young Americans aren’t flocking to obtain insurance through the federal and state exchanges as officials had hoped. Just 24 percent of individuals who selected a plan on an Obamacare Marketplace through December are between the ages of 18 and 34 — substantially short of the 40 percent target the administration set for the end of the March open enrollment period.
The participation of “Young Invincibles” in Obamacare has been deemed critical to the program’s success, as their premium payments will help offset the costs of older, sicker Americans who are more frequent and expensive users of medical care.
“There’s no way to spin it: youth enrollment has been a bust so far,” Brendan Buck, a press secretary for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), said in a statement. “When they see that Obamacare offers high costs for limited access to doctors — if the enrollment goes through at all — it’s no surprise that young people aren’t rushing to sign up.”
The percentage split is not the only target the law has failed to meet so far. The administration projected 3.3 million total signups through the exchanges by the end of December — halfway between the program’s implementation in October and the March 31 milestone — but only 2.2 million people enrolled. Of that number, only 489,460 are young adults aged 18-to-34. For perspective of just how far off the pace the program is among that age group, the administration expected 2.7 million young adult enrollments by the end of March.
HHS officials shrugged off any concerns during a Monday conference call, saying the initial numbers were expected and expressing confidence that younger Americans will enroll in greater proportions as the year continues.
“We are confident based on the results we have now that we’ll have the appropriate mix of individuals enrolled in coverage,” Michael Hash, director of HHS’ Office of Health Reform, said.
To attain that mix, young adults will have to pick up the pace of their enrollment as March approaches, and do so at an especially rapid clip. For example, the administration expected that 47 percent of total signups for the October-March period would occur through December. Assuming that trend and the current pace of signups continues — 2.2 million representing 47 percent of 4.7 million enrollments total — more than half of the remaining 2.5 million signups would have to come from 18-to-34 year old adults for the program to meet its percentage target.
Should Millennials not participate more, Americans may have to pay the price. As the Washington Examiner’s Philip Klein notes, a December report from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that a ‘worst-case’ scenario of Obamacare would include 18-to-34 year olds comprising just 25 percent of enrollments, comparable to the number reported Monday. At that point, “overall costs in individual market plans would be about 2.4% higher than premium revenues,” the report states — and insurers would likely raise their premiums to make up for the shortfall, passing the program’s flaws onto the consumer.
