I’m sorry*, but there’s no other way to describe these enrollment numbers. Which are, by the way, from a state exchange – meaning that the problems of healthcare.gov should theoretically be irrelevant to the conversation:
Enrollments have grown to 15,074, marketplace officials announced Monday.
Marketplace officials set a goal of 136,000 people covered on exchanged-based plans by the end of 2014, but so far the exchange has failed to reach even worst-case enrollment projections.
Officials’ worst-case scenarios pictured 22,215 people enrolled by Dec. 13. Their mid-range enrollment projection for that date is 40, 372.
The Democratic-controlled Coloradan state government is blaming this mess on people supposedly not having to replace their insurance now** and bad press about the national exchange. Which is easier than blaming the Democrats now running the state exchange, particularly since the head of the exchange wanted a merit raise for all her work on it. It’s certainly easier than simply admitting that hey, maybe there wasn’t all that much of a burning need for Obamacare in the first place.
But surely that’s crazy talk.
Moe Lane (crosspost)
*Yes, I am sorry. Bad numbers = people not being insured next year. What I am not is responsible for any of this.
**OK, let me explain that one. Colorado had an estimated 250K cancellations looming from Obamacare. In mid-November the President decreed (his decree is unenforceable, in my opinion) that insurance companies could offer one-time, one-year renewals until the sites all worked. Whether or not that would work (again: it won’t), it doesn’t explain why November’s enrollment numbers were awful, too.
You could remove “Colorado” from the title and you still wouldn’t be wrong.
Same story here in Califubar.
And on top of the crap policies offered under ObamaCare my coverage cancellation letter just came in yesterday with an effective cancellation date of 1/4/2014. Not much time to find a replacement and get enrolled.
Here’s a trick that may help: assuming you want to keep your doctor(s), check with their office FIRST to see which insurance networks they’ll be in. This will keep you from wasting time considering insurance plans that you ultimately won’t be able to use.
My old plan, (which I liked), was through Kaiser. Only another Kaiser plan would keep the doctors and hospitals.
It’s been less than 24 hours since I got the cancellation, so no research yet.
You know, I was just sitting here thinking (in re another thread) that the democrats (and, to be fair, the GOP to a lesser extent) seemed to have pretty much killed off all of my sympathy for anyone outside of my immediate family, but a few sparks haven’t quite been stomped out yet.
Sorry to hear that, Larry, and I wish you the best of luck.
My old plan, (which I liked) …
Alas! Another pathetic case of false consciousness! Your betters know what you need. Why do you not want them to choose your mandatory obstetrician for you?