Sign-ups for Obamacare plans have reached 1,924,476, still lagging behind last year’s enrollment pace and offering fodder to Democrats who have accused the Trump administration of “sabotaging” the law.
Around the same time last year, nearly 2.3 million people had signed up for health insurance coverage through the federal healthcare.gov website. That year’s total reflected sign-ups over 18 days, and this year’s reflects 17 days.
Democrats have accused the Trump administration of trying to sabotage Obamacare because it has cut the budget for navigators and advertisements on open enrollment, in addition to reducing the sign-up period.
The tax bill that President Trump signed into law late last year also zeroed out a fine on the uninsured, meaning people will not be penalized beginning in 2019 if they choose to go uninsured. The Trump administration also is allowing people to buy coverage outside of Obamacare’s rules.
It’s possible, as well, that people are choosing to purchase health insurance directly through an insurer instead of on the healthcare.gov website.
Within the total sign-ups, 1,467,569 customers were renewing customers who already have a plan through the exchange and 456,907 are new customers. The evaluation includes only sign-ups on healthcare.gov, which 39 states use, and therefore does not have information about the other states that run their own exchanges.
The healthcare.gov call center received 619,467 calls during the third week, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
