Feds: 11.3 million sign up for marketplace plans

The Obama administration said Thursday that 11.3 million people have enrolled for health-care coverage with three weeks left in the marketplace sign-up season (Source: “For 2016, 11.3 million signed up for health-care coverage, for now,” Associated Press via Columbus Dispatch, Jan. 8, 2016).

But a major independent survey out simultaneously showed that progress reducing the number of uninsured Americans stalled last year. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index found that the uninsured rate among adults was essentially unchanged in 2015, raising concerns about the lasting impact of President Barack Obama’s signature legislation.

“Enrollment is growing, though less quickly than anticipated,” said Larry Levitt, who follows ACA implementation for the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “The law is hardly collapsing, as critics have suggested, but it continues to be unclear whether it will ultimately be the success that advocates had hoped.”

The administration is expecting a surge of young procrastinators to sign up near the Jan. 31 deadline for 2016 coverage. That could help hold down premiums the following year.

Leading the administration’s tally was Florida, with more than 1.5 million signed up. California followed, with more than 1.4 million. About 8 in 10 customers are eligible for federal tax credits to bring down the cost of their monthly premiums.