Final enrollment in the Obamacare exchanges fell roughly 300,000 people short of last year’s tally, the Trump administration revealed Wednesday.
Democrats have warned that sign-ups would fall behind this year, accusing the Trump administration of trying to sabotage Obamacare by cutting the budget for navigators and advertisements for open enrollment, in addition to reducing the sign-up period from three months to six weeks. A federal judge also ruled Obamacare to be unconstitutional just a day before the sign-up period ended.
But the latest figures from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services showed a significant jump from where they were a couple weeks ago, when enrollment was behind by about 11 percent. The final numbers are similar to last year’s, despite Republicans also, as part of the tax overhaul they passed, zeroing out the fine for going uninsured. Final enrollment landed at roughly 8.5 million people, compared to the 8.8 million who enrolled last year. Shortly after, some people had dropped plans, bringing the final total to about 8.7 million.
The agency is also still returning calls to 200,000 people who left their information to receive a call back and enroll.
CMS said that customers surged to the website in the final weeks and that those who already had Obamacare plans and didn’t make any changes were automatically enrolled in a plan after the Dec. 15 deadline. Fewer health insurers left the marketplaces this year than in previous years, and the price of plans dropped slightly, so customers may have more incentive to remain in their current plans.
The Trump administration praised the enrollment figures, calling them “stable,” and hypothesized that one factor possibly contributing to lower enrollment was the strong economy. Most states use healthcare.gov, and employment in those states increased by 2 million, according to CMS. The exchanges are for people who don’t get coverage through work or a government program.
“With the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years, it’s possible that more Americans have employer based coverage, and don’t need exchange plans,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement.
Still, she noted, certain enrollees don’t get help from the federal government to pay their premiums, and these customers may be priced out.
Agency officials also noted that Virginia’s Medicaid expansion that started this year would pull some people out of the marketplace and into Medicaid coverage, which is fully funded by the federal government and the state for individuals making less than roughly $17,000 a year. CMS estimated that about 100,000 people would qualify for Medicaid in Virginia who were formerly enrolled in the exchange.
CMS did not provide information about the extent to which people had signed up for short-term plans, which are plans that can be bought outside of Obamacare’s rules obligating coverage for pre-existing conditions such as cancer or diabetes.
It’s possible, as well, that some former customers chose to buy health insurance directly through an insurer instead of on the healthcare.gov website. This would mean that the number of uninsured doesn’t rise even if the number that sign up through the federal marketplace goes down.
[Also read: Federal judge rules Obamacare unconstitutional]
