From the Thursday Morning Jolt:
Success! 2.45 Million Obamacare Enrollees Paid Their Premiums by April 15.
Remember the Obama administration’s much-touted statistic that 8.1 million Americans had signed up for Obamacare? Yeah, about that…
As of April 15, 2014, insurers informed the committee that only 2.45 million had paid their first month’s premium for coverage obtained through the federally facilitated marketplace.
If you have a statistic that seems artificially inflated for more than four weeks, consult your doctor immediately.
When it comes to Obamacare, always check the fine print:
Just 67 percent of Americans who purchased insurance through federal-facility ObamaCare exchanges have paid their premiums, according to information insurers participating in the program gave to Congress.
The information was compiled by the GOP-led House Committee on Energy and Commerce, as Americans wait to learn enrollment details from the Obama administration, two weeks after the April 15 enrollment deadline.
The age group with lowest percent of enrollees who have paid their first month’s premium is the 65-and-older group. Just one percent of those paid, according to information supplied by all 160 insurance companies in the federally-facilitated ObamaCare exchanges.
Texas had the lowest percentage of payers by state, at 42 percent, in the committee’s nationwide breakdown of the numbers, as of April 15.
President Obama, in the days following the deadline, declared his signature health care law a success, saying in a press conference that more than eight million people enrolled in the first six months, exceeding the goal of seven million.
But the president has yet to announce several key figures, including the age breakdown for enrollees and how many have paid, which would likely provide a more accurate picture of the 2010 law’s success.
The age group breakdown is considered important because the success of ObamaCare is based on having a high percentage of young Americans signed up to cover older enrollees, who typically need more health care.
Only 25 percent of that key demographic, 18-to-34-year-olds, has so far paid, according to the data supplies by the committee.
In the president’s home state of Illinois, nearly half, 48 percent, hadn’t paid as of April 15.
This is the moment when we realize taxpayers spent $684 million to promote “Get Covered!” and not one dime for “Pay Your Bills!”
Vox attempted to rush to the rescue of the administration, but noted:
The data contradicts previous statements from the Obama administration: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said insurance companies told her that about 80 to 90 percent of people initially signing up for Obamacare paid their premiums.
And we know the woman who kept the president in the dark about the status of the Obamacare exchange site until after launch day wouldn’t lie, right?
Also notice Vox’s wording: “The committee claimed it obtained the data through direct correspondences with every insurance provider on Obamacare’s federal exchange.”
You think all those insurers withheld all the good data? Vox and the administration kept emphasizing that these figures don’t include all the procrastinators who signed up in the final weeks. Okay, but why would those folks be so much more diligent about paying their bills? If they’re procrastinators, isn’t there a good chance they’ll be a little lax about sending out the check to pay the premiums on time?