Hoping to blunt the momentum of Obamacare repeal, officials are spending the closing days of the Obama administration trying to push the idea that the president’s signature healthcare law is a success. But a new administration report touted for showing growing enrollment on the law’s exchanges also contained bad news: Insurers are having no better luck convincing younger Americans to purchase coverage.
The failure of Obamacare to sign up enough younger and healthier individuals to offset the cost of covering older and sicker enrollees is at the root of problems encountered by the law’s exchanges. This is why insurers have been losing billions of dollars and have responded by some combination of raising premiums, slashing networks of doctors and hospitals, and exiting Obamacare markets altogether.
