Contrary to the numbers President Obama has been toting around, not all of the three million people who enrolled for Obamacare made their first payment, The Daily Caller reported.
Citing limited data from five states that together make up one third of the estimated enrollees, the Caller concluded that the actual enrollment rate lies somewhere between 51 and 85 percent. Anyone who missed their payment now has a canceled plan.
They did their due diligence by pointing out that analysts predicted about 20 percent of enrollments would fall through, but in California, 49 percent of enrollees have failed to make their first payment. Rhode Island rests closer to the predicted level, with 85 percent of enrolled citizens having paid their premium.
Also, according to a CNN poll from Jan. 30, one in five people who enrolled hadn’t made their first payment yet.
The numbers are not conclusive – there are still two million people who have gone unaccounted for in The Daily Caller’s data. However, if this trend continues, it could mean a further breakdown of Obama’s pet project. The lack of sign-ups may reflect an American distaste for the program.
Another question to consider is: “Who are the people who have not paid?”
Perhaps some are healthy adults who still don’t see a real need for full coverage. Others may be struggling to scrape up the money to pay for premiums on health care they didn’t have before – or the more expensive plans Obamacare made them get.
If many of these people are the “healthy ones,” the all-too-important ratio of healthy-to-sick Americans could be thrown off:
If 7 million people signed up for the exchanges – as CBO predicted – the Obama administration believed success meant ensuring about 2.7 million of them were young and healthy. If they got 10 million people to sign up, about 3.9 million had to be young and healthy. If they got 4 million to sign up, success would mean making sure 1.5 million were young and healthy.
Therefore, if fewer younger, healthier people enroll and even fewer younger, healthier people pay up, the premiums for health insurance will rise. In the end, Americans will end up paying more out of pocket for their health care – exactly what Obama’s lengthy law was designed to avoid.
Obama will likely continue to amend the law with his almighty word in order to save face, while the rest of us watch as the “Affordable” Care Act crumbles.
