Thread: 2.2 Million Obamacare Enrollees? Nope. Try 110,000-330,000

2.2 Million Obamacare Enrollees? Nope. Try 110,000-330,000

By Robert Gehl on January 16, 2014 Subscribe to Robert Gehl's Feed



Like any consumer experience, if you don’t pay for it, it ain’t yours.

Keep that in mind when the Obama Administration throws around how many millions of people now have health insurance thanks to Obamacare. It just ain’t right.

The latest figure they tout is that 2.2 million Americans have enrolled for coverage. Well, they may have selected a plan, but that’s like pulling a box of cereal off the grocery store shelf. It isn’t yours until you pay for it.

So far, only 5 to 15 percent of enrollees have actually paid their bill. The rest remain unpaid. Keep in mind, coverage was supposed to begin on Jan. 1 for many of these people. They might be in for a shock when they try to get coverage with an insurance plan they haven’t paid for.

The insurance industry is worried and they’re sending out billing notices as fast as possible.

“There is also a lot of worrying going on over people making payments,” industry consultant Robert Laszewski wrote in an email. “One client reports only 15% have paid so far. It is still too early to know for sure what this means, but we should expect some enrollment slippage come the payment due date.”

Another consultant Kip Piper, agreed. “So far I’m hearing from health plans that around 5% and 10% of consumers who have made it through the data transfer gauntlet have paid first month’s premium and therefore truly enrolled,” he wrote me.

“It naturally varies by insurer and will hopefully increase as we get close to end of December and documents flow in the mail,” added Piper, a former official at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “But overall I’m hearing it’s a small portion so far. And that, of course, is a fraction of an already comparatively small number of people who have made it through setting up an account, getting verified, subsidy eligibility determined, plan selected, complete and correct data transferred to the insurer, and insurer set out the confirmation with invoice for consumer’s share of the first month’s premium.”

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