The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that at least two-thirds of the 2.2 million people who have enrolled in new health insurance plans through the Obamacare marketplaces (through December 28) previously had health insurance, either through a job or a private insurance policy. In other words, at most one-third of the enrollees were previously uninsured. And the percentage may be even lower than that. A McKinsey & Co survey said it might be as low as 11%.
The Congressional Budget Office had estimated that the Obamacare marketplaces would, in the first year, sign up 5 million people who were previously uninsured. Based on the Journal’s estimates, at most 700,000 uninsured people have signed up so far.
Some previously uninsured people have now signed up for Medicaid, but even the Administration doesn’t know how many it is. Sean Trende at RealClearPolitics estimates that the number of people getting Medicaid because of the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare, is considerably less than 500,000 people
When this all this started, there were roughly 40 million American adults without health insurance. Obamacare has reduced that number by maybe a million or a million and a half people. We have gone through all of this for that? Why?
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