5.4 Million Obamacare Enrollees Were Previously Uninsured

Yet again, red states have a lousy measure of socio-political integrity.

***

"Red State Moocher Links"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/07/red-state-moocher-links.html

***

"Blue States Secede"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/07/blue-states-secede-red-states-secede.html

***

A look at how many Obamacare enrollees were uninsured: 5.4 million. "As we observed earlier this week, one of the obsessions of opponents of the Affordable Care Act is the question of how many enrollees in Obamacare health plans already had insurance. The goal is to knock down the latest enrollment numbers by suggesting that most of the 7.1 million people enrolled through the individual insurance exchanges just moved from one insurance plan to another in a waste of time and effort. The real figure probably won't be known for weeks, even months. But researchers at the Urban Institute's Health Policy Center have weighed in with their own estimate. They're figuring that the ACA has reduced the number of uninsured Americans by 5.4 million from the first quarter of 2013 through early March this year." Michael Hiltzik in the Los Angeles Times.

Breaking down the numbers. "These figures are not precise. They represent survey results, adjusted to represent a national sample, and they have a margin of error. But the results point in the same general direction as data collected by the Gallup organization and the Rand Corporation....Would saving approximately 5 million people from uninsurance be a big deal? On the one hand, it's far less than the 13 million people the Congressional Budget Office has said it expects to gain insurance because of the law in its first year. On the other hand, the figure does not include young adults who got coverage by signing onto their parents' plans and those in states that expanded their Medicaid plans early....Also, the survey data ends with early March, which means it doesn't include the final surge of signups before the end of open enrollment. And more people will continue to get coverage throughout the year, particularly those living in states that are expanding eligibility for their Medicaid programs as the law's architects originally envisioned." Jonathan Cohn in The New Republic.

Poll: Obamacare popularity rising, on par with popularity of namesake. NPR.