Posted on 03/10/2015 5:11:22 PM PDT by Libloather
Nearly nine in 10 people who signed up for healthcare from the federal government this year qualify for subsidies, the Obama administration announced Tuesday.
A total of 7.7 million people would receive subsidies this year in the roughly three-dozen states using HealthCare.gov – a figure that has held steady since ObamaCare's first year.
The Obama administration touted the figure Tuesday to show that the vast majority of people in states using the federal exchange rely on subsidies as the Supreme Court weighs a case that could eliminate them.
A total of 34 states using HealthCare.gov could lose subsidies if the court rules against ObamaCare later this spring in King v. Burwell, a GOP-backed lawsuit. A vast amount of federal spending is at stake in the decision – about $2 billion per month, according to the new figures.
On average, a person who qualifies for subsidies would have to pay less than one-quarter of their premium cost. The average subsidy is $263 per month.
While 37 states use HealthCare.gov, only 34 are affected by King v. Burwell. Three states – Nevada, Oregon and New Mexico – had been officially approved as state exchanges before beginning to use the federal government’s platform.
The figures were released as part of a 37-page enrollment report, which offers the most comprehensive glimpse to date of ObamaCare’s fate in 2015.
The enrollment report covers the 11.7 million people who have signed up for ObamaCare, though not necessarily all of those who have paid for their plans. The report shows how many people qualify for subsidies, but not necessarily how many people will receive them.
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell announced the total enrollment figure of 11.7 million at a White House event on Monday, which she used as a direct appeal to the court.
"These numbers show just how important the tax credits are to millions of Americans and to the insurance markets in those states," she said, pointing to states like Texas, Florida and North Carolina.
The report also showed that ObamaCare's rolls are continuing to grow in 2015.
About 53 percent of people who signed up for coverage this year were first-time buyers, the report showed.
Those 4.6 million new customers were slightly more likely to be younger and more likely to be black or Latino, the administration said. The figures signal some success for national healthcare groups and government officials who cranked up their outreach to younger, more diverse groups this year.
Still, the overall percent of black or Latino Americans signing up for ObamaCare remained largely the same as 2014. Black Americans made up 14 percent of total enrollment in 2015, compared to 17 percent last year. Latinos comprised 11 percent both years.
Dr. Meena Seshamani, director of HHS’s Office of Health Reform, urged caution on the figures because nearly one-third of people did not report their race.
“We’re satisfied where we are by the overall mix of enrollees,” she told reporters Tuesday.
The number of young people who bought coverage remained steady in 2015. People between 18 and 35 who signed up for coverage comprised about 28 percent of all signups, on par with last year.
Kevin Griffis, the department’s acting assistant secretary for public affairs, said the administration believed that insurance companies would again be satisfied by the mix of people enrolled.
In the last year, 25 percent more insurers opted to offer coverage, which Griffis said showed trust in the system.
“Insurers themselves voted with their feet,” Griffis told reporters. We don’t feel like we’ve had that sort of behavior from insurers if they didn’t feel like they had the right mix.”
The enrollment period for 2015 spanned from November to February, though the government will open a special enrollment period for people who were previously uninsured.
I would guess that a lot of people have the same “subsidy” they had before, but it used to be called a tax credit and now they just pay less up-front.
“A vast amount of federal spending is at stake in the decision – about $2 billion per month, according to the new figures.”
Paid for by our Chinese credit card and the round-the-clock printing press?
Ah, what difference does it make? Let some future Generation Out-of-Luck pay for it. I’ll gladly pay you in 2092 for vote buying today.
The Obamacare numbers still cannot be believed .... see the very last sentence.
[From Link: http://healthpolicyandmarket.blogspot.com/2015/02/obamacare-is-working-better-than.html#more ]
**********************************************************
Back Room Problems Persist
The original expectations for Obamacare extend beyond the enrollment.
The administration spent $2.2 billion on developing and fixing Healthcare.gov.
But 17 months after its original launch––and five years after the law passed––the backroom still has not been completely built.
There are now about 7 million people receiving health insurance premium subsidies in the federally run exchanges. But HealthCare.gov can’t pay the insurance companies. Insurers are still getting paid based upon a workaround that involves them manually filling out worksheets––for 7 million people. There is no formal date for when this will be fixed.
HealthCare.gov also can’t reconcile the cost sharing subsidies the lowest income people get form Obamacare––like lower deductibles and co-pays.
This lack of an automated enrollment process not only causes lots of headaches but also makes the enrollment numbers the administration is reporting awfully soft. One carrier told me they only ended up with half of the net January enrollments HealthCare.gov originally reported to them.
More and more people riding in the cart,
and fewer and fewer people pushing the cart.
So who is smarter? Those who get free stuff or those who work their azz off to pay for the free stuff for others?
The uncovering of the dirty Traffickers called “insurance companies”-banks, selling body mortgages.
Dirty trafficking
Didn’t the Treasury Dept. illegally award $3 BILLION to health care insurers?
9 out of 10 receiving subsides.......in other words, it’s a black hole they are throwing money into.
If the measuring stick of the Obamunists was truly the negative impacts on a certain number of people, then they’d have never passed it to begin with. At 7.7m who might “lose” these illegal subsidies, they’re still well short of the number who found out that hard way about the “if you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance” lie. Many millions more were forced out of their plans, and into plans with higher premiums, higher deductibles, and unneeded coverages.
Rep. Tim Walz, D-Mn, “They just didn’t understand how we could save money on this by adding more people to the system”
“Paid for by our Chinese credit card and the round-the-clock printing press?”
The Chinese have stopped buying our debt. This is all printing press funded.
“Many millions more were forced out of their plans, and into plans with higher premiums, higher deductibles, and unneeded coverages.”
No doubt John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are working hard to defund or eliminate this burden from the back of the people who elected a Republican House and Senate. I’m sure if we asked they would tell us they have to wait for the right moment.
$2 Billion a month for healthcare Nationwide, Chump Change! Los Angeles County spends $1 Billion dollars a MONTH just to Service Illegal Aliens, not including the other 1/2 of the population on Government Assistance of one sort or another.
Community service for these parasites
Yeah. Think about this when you send in your check on April 15th or receive a smaller refund ... I don’t expect for a moment you receive an additional tax refund for money you never paid (i.e., the “earned income credit”) ... heh-heh!
That’s just the subsidies. Now add Medicaid to those numbers.
Yes, it is another step towards socialism. Every country which tried socialism suffered lower standards of living. Now formerly socialist/communist countries like Russia have a flat income tax, and China has no capital gains tax. They have learned. Americans may learn after 50 more years of steady deterioration in living standards. But I will not hold my breath. The teacher’s union has made sure to dumb down young minds.
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