Obama health law sign-ups beat forecast despite headwinds
Source: Associated Press
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
12 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Affordable Care Act has yet again beaten predictions of its downfall, as government figures released Wednesday showed unexpectedly solid sign-ups for coverage next year.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said nearly 8.5 million people had enrolled as of last Saturday’s deadline, with about a dozen states still left to report. Though the final count won’t be known for a few months, it will be higher.
Wednesday’s number was about 4 percent below a comparable statistic from the same time last year. Earlier progress reports from the government had pointed to a potential enrollment decline of more than 10 percent. The Trump administration has sharply scaled back promotional advertising and taken a number of other actions that unsettled the health law’s insurance markets. And last Friday, a Republican-appointed federal judge in Texas ruled the whole law unconstitutional.
Not included in the latest figures for 39 states using HealthCare.gov are totals from about a dozen states running their own enrollment efforts. Also to be added in are HealthCare.gov customers who signed up close to deadline, or left phone numbers for a callback.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/63f94c9b78cb46a1a30db1090f157174
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