warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Obamacare Enrollment Hits Its Target, But Mission Accomplished?

Michelle Bergmann |
April 1, 2014 | 1:01 p.m. PDT

Executive Producer

(via Flickr)
(via Flickr)
Obamacare closed its enrollment period Monday. The Obama team is still tallying final numbers but supposedly the program is  on track to sign up 7 million Americans for insurance coverage. 

The goal of 7 million was set by the Congressional Budget Office at the program's launch. After a glitchy roll-out that number was reduced to 6 million which the white house confirmed was reached Wednesday. At this point, Americans will wait and see if the orginally proposed 7 million will be reached. 

But do these numbers actually measure the success of enrolling the uninsured?

Some celebrate the passing of the critical stage now that the program has enrolled at least 6 million people. But critics say we don't know how many of these are actually new uninsured enrollees which is the real determinant of the Affordable Care Act's success. The figures that will be telling are the previously insured enrollees versus newly insured enrollees which won't be unveiled until spring.

Joe Antos, a health policy expert at the American Enterprise Institute, told Newsweek "If it turns out that of the 5 million or 6 million people you get a million or maybe a million and a half who truly didn't have health insurance last year, that is a public policy failure."

Read: Obamacare Reaches Its Target. Can We Stop Pretending That Numbers Matter Now? 

There is a similar problem with Medicaid enrollments. According to the department of Health and Human Services the 6 million includes people already enrolled in Medicaid who are deemed eligible for another year by the natural expansion.

Marc A. Theissen of the The Washington Post said "The Obama administration is so anxious for some good news about this law that if it doesn't have any, it just makes some up."

But many still view Obamacare as a good initiative. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll showed last month that 38% of Americans are in favor of the Affordable Care Act, an increase from Janaury. 

The final days of signups didn't go with out it's technical glitches, which is no surprise considering the website backlashes when the site was first launched. Monday afternoon a tech glitch prevented people from signing up and a series of error messages came up as 100,000 users streamed in at once. A team was brought in and resolved the issue but criticisms of the site prevailed none the less. 

Jason Stevenson, who helped people enroll, told Fox News " This is like trying got find a parking spot at Wal-Mart on Dec.23."

However, some think it's unfair to blame the site for not being able to handle the immense traffic. 

Actress Olivia Wilde tweeted "When Ellen's Oscar tweet shuts down the site, we rejoice in the mass enthusiasm. When healthcare sign-ups do the same, we judge and sneer." 

President Obama will make a statement on achieving the Affordable Care Act milestone today at 4:15 EST.

Reach Executive Producer Michelle Bergmann here



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.

 
ntrandomness