ObamaCare Proves to be Nothing More Than a Costly Entitlement Program

Originally projected to put a qualified healthcare plan in the hands of 24 million uninsured Americans by 2017, enrollment of the uninsured nonelderly through the state and federal healthcare insurance exchanges is the heart of the ObamaCare law.

Despite this, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) remains tight lipped on the number of uninsured nonelderly who purchased a qualified healthcare plan through the exchanges during last year’s inaugural open enrollment period.  There is no plausible explanation as to why HHS has not been forthcoming with this vital piece of enrollment information other than it must not speak in favor of the laws success which appears to be the case judging from the findings of a survey being conducted by the Urban Institute.

What Studies Have Found

The Urban Institute initiated its Health Reform Monitoring Survey (the survey) in the first quarter of 2013, the intent of which is to monitor the changes in the nation’s uninsured rate following the opening of the healthcare exchanges and the start of the Medicaid expansion.  In a report released by the Urban Institute dated December 3, 2014, it stated that at the end of the first year of the implementation of ObamaCare, the survey revealed that 10.6 million fewer American’s were uninsured.  The report also stated that most of the gains in reducing the number of uninsured were made through the Medicaid expansion provision of the law but did not quantify the reduction.  We are in luck however, as the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMS) has done so for us.

In their Medicaid & CHIP: September2014 Monthly Applications, Eligibility Determinations and Enrollment Report, CMS disclosed that over 9.2 million additional individuals enrolled on Medicaid and CHIP between September 2013 through September 2014 (see page 3 of report), the same period covered in the Urban Institute report.

 
The Uninsured are No Shows on the Exchanges

 If we remove the number of individuals who enrolled on Medicaid and CHIP, as reported by CMS, from the total reduction of the uninsured, as reported by the Urban Institute, it becomes painfully evident how ineffective the healthcare exchanges were.  With only 1.4 million uninsured individuals purchasing a qualified healthcare plan in 2014, many of whom did so outside of the state and federal healthcare exchanges, it is no wonder that the Obama Administration is keeping enrollment figures a secret.  And at the cost of $2 trillion over the next decade, the failure of the healthcare exchanges has turned ObamaCare into the most costly social entitlement program in history!

The 2015 open enrollment period is currently on track to place a qualified healthcare plan in the hands of as few as 2.2 million uninsured nonelderly Americans by the end of the enrollment period {see week 10 enrollment blog}.  Couple this with what appears to be fewer than 1.4 million qualified healthcare plans purchased by the uninsured nonelderly during the 2014 open enrollment period and what you have is a healthcare law that is in significant trouble.  Unless an enrollment miracle takes place in the next 2 weeks, it will be next to impossible to keep insurers interested in participating on the healthcare exchanges following  2 consecutive disastrous enrollment turnouts by the uninsured.

   
Trying to Change the Intent

Proponents of ObamaCare have been working diligently to extract the word “uninsured” from the discussion when speaking about enrollment.  As well, they are putting as much focus as possible on the success of the Medicaid expansion.  However, doing so does not erase the massive failure of the healthcare exchanges.  The intent of the law remains the same, to significantly reduce the number of uninsured in this country through the Medicaid expansion and in much larger part, by putting 24 million qualified healthcare plans in the hands of the nation’s uninsured by 2017, the latter of which has become a statistical impossibility.

The Urban Institute is a well-respected, left leaning Washington DC based think tank that conducts economic and social policy research.  The Urban Institute has followed the evolution and growth of ObamaCare and has conducted countless studies and surveys pertaining to the law.