Obamacare’s enrollment numbers may not be quite as impressive as initially touted by the White House following its final push.
In a statement on Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee called claims of the law’s success “unfounded” after it revealed that data provided by insurance providers shows only two-thirds of enrollees on the federal marketplace had paid the first month’s premiums by April 15. Other data from insurance companies have suggested the payment rates are higher; part of the discrepancy is that March enrollees’ first payments were not due before April 15.
In a state-by-state breakdown, the data shows even less people have paid. In Illinois, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Texas, roughly or more than 50 percent of enrollees had not yet paid for the first month.
In the statement, chairman Fred Upton (R., Mich.) said the committee opted to get the data from insurance providers following the administration’s repeated stonewalling of demographic and payment information.
“In a sad reversal away from its vows of transparency, the Obama administration, from inside the Oval Office on down, has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep basic details of the health law from the public,” Upton said. “Tired of receiving incomplete pictures of enrollment in the health-care law, we went right to the source and found that the administration’s recent declarations of success may be unfounded.”
Following last month’s enrollment deadline, the Obama administration celebrated its “surge” in the final weeks and claimed it had surpassed its goal of 7 million enrollees, finishing with 8 million.