It Keeps Growing

The President’s signature domestic policy piece may go even further.  If enrollments spike in March, as the White House has long predicted, Obamacare could come close to reaching the projected total of 7 million forecast by the Congressional Budget Office before the enrollment period began in October.

That deserves to be celebrated.  Let’s do so with this chart, which relies on TPM’s estimates, rather than the more generous 5 million other sources have cited.

Here’s a breakdown of this chart:  As of March 1, 2014, about 4.2 million folks in total had signed up.  Of those, about 2.2 million had done so through an FFM or Federally-Facilitated Marketplace, while another approximate 2 million signed up through an SBM or State-Based Marketplace.

In October, when the HealthCare.gov website failed so dismally, only about 100,000 people signed up.  At that point, enrollment had reached only about 21 percent of what the CBO had expected for that month.  But if Obamacare continues to have a good March, and gets to 5.5 million sign-ups, it will have attracted about 80 percent of the 7 million that had been projected.

Note also that the CBO revised its projection down to 6 million last month, to take into account HealthCare.gov’s problems.  That being the case, it looks like another success for the Affordable Care Act, and for all those who’d been without health insurance.

***

Michele Petrovsky is the Webmaster at Tools4Change, Author of “Cathedral or Bazaar?  Fix Higher Education – Teach by the Seat of Your Pants ,”  “Donkey Dharma,” and “Quick Guide to Linux.” Petrovsky resides in Glen Mills, Pa.

***

To submit a blog to Union Matters, e-mail it to bstack@usw.org. Keep it to 250 words or fewer. You MUST include your full name, hometown, and state. You may attach a photograph of yourself. Please include a phone number. This WILL NOT be published. Posting any given blog is within the discretion of the USW. No blog using foul language (this is a family site), false information (we don’t want to get sued), or unnecessary personal attacks (again, we don’t want to get sued) will be used. Wait a reasonable period of time, then blog again!