<p>"Here’s a rundown of the latest metrics on the Affordable Care Act.</p>
<p>– The percentage of uninsured Americans is falling sharply, reaching 15.9% as of the end of February, according to Gallup. That’s the lowest rate the survey firm has measured since 2008. The greatest gains in insured status were shown by people earning less than $36,000 – a prime target for the act – and black Americans. Hispanics still lag.</p>
<p>– The cost of health insurance and medical care came sharply down in January, according to number-crunchers at Goldman Sachs and the Commerce Department. Goldman Sachs attributed the slide to cuts in the reimbursement formulas for Medicare services, which are written into the law. The ACA is effectively putting more money in people’s pockets – the Commerce Department estimated that the expansion of Medicaid benefits under the ACA amounted to $19.2 billion in January.</p>
<p>– The ACA is making increasingly deep inroads into the population of uninsured persons, not merely those who had insurance previously and have just switched over to exchange plans or Medicaid. The consulting firm McKinsey & Co. says that the previously uninsured accounted for 27% of those who told its monthly survey in early February that they had signed up for a 2014 plan; that’s up from 11% in earlier surveys. Another data point comes from New York state, one of the few breaking down its enrollments by prior insurance status – it says more than 72% of its exchange enrollees were previously uninsured."</p>
<p>Okay, I read it. Her problem was unaffordable monthly costs and unknown future drug coverage. They say she’ll save annually. And, they leave themselves wiggle room. “It’s possible, but it’s highly unlikely.” So, we’ll’ see. Thanks.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that only one in ten uninsured people who qualify for private plans through the exchanges are signing up. The survey found that more than 1/2 of them are not making their first payments, so the real enrollment number is like 5%. This a huge churning operation which is essentially forcing insured people into the exchanges.</p>
<p>Someone who likes numbers should figure out the total cost per sign-up. Covered California is spending an amazing amount of money on advertising, outreach, and payroll costs. A fun project.</p>
<p>Pooch, the person who said that was the spokesman for the insurance company. He knows better than you do about the policy that his company sold to Boonstra.</p>
<p>CF, all I said is this statement by the insurance company spokesman would not apply to Obamacare policies in Ca that all have closed formularies.</p>
<p>Flossy, I would not say Covered Calif is spending an amazing amount of money unless I knew what Covered Calif is spending. So? What is Covered Calif spending?</p>
<p>That’s interesting. There are complaints that ACA isn’t successful, isn’t signing up enough people. And then in a state where enrollment has already exceeded the goal by quite a lot, there are complaints that it did what it needed to do to be successful.</p>
<p>dstark, the 10% number is from the (new) McKinsey survey. They say that of the uninsured people who would be eligible to sign up on the exchanges (that is, they have a high enough income) 10% have already signed up for insurance. </p>
<p>GP makes much of the fact that of the previously uninsured, just over half have already paid. This does not dismay me as much as it dismays GP, because I know that many of the uninsured have signed up in the last month (that’s how the percentage of uninsured on the exchanges jumped from 10% to 25%) and wouldn’t have had their bills due yet.</p>