|
 Sebelius also said there would be no postponement of
this month's deadline for enrolling in coverage through new private
health insurance marketplaces or the Medicaid program for the poor.
"No, sir," was Sebelius' categorical answer when asked about both
prospects by Representative Kevin Brady of Texas at a hearing of the
House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee.
Speaking a day after her department released new Obamacare data
showing private insurance enrollment rising to 4.2 million people as
of March 1, Sebelius rebuffed Republican claims that the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act's implementation was failing to
attract enough enrollees.
In response to Representative James Renacci, an Ohio Republican,
Sebelius said the sign-up effort would be a success despite the
botched October rollout that led the nonpartisan Congressional
Budget Office to pare back its enrollment forecast from 7 million to
6 million people.
"Success looks like millions of people with affordable health
coverage, which we will have by the end of March in the private
marketplace, in Medicaid, young adults on their family plans," she
said.
"We will have, I think, a successful plan. We have a market. We have
competition."
The latest data shows February private enrollment dipping to 940,000
people from more than 1.1 million in January, a change the
administration attributed to the shorter 28-day month.
Administration officials on Monday predicted that millions of
enrollees will sign up for coverage in March, suggesting total
enrollment could surpass the latest CBO forecast. But a private
health care advisory firm and one of Obamacare's key architects said
on Wednesday enrollment would likely fall short of the 6 million
mark.
TARGETING YOUTH
The government is mounting an intensive enrollment drive aimed
mainly at younger adults, aged 18 to 34, whose participation in the
Obamacare marketplaces is vital to the program's success.
President Barack Obama appeared Tuesday for an interview on the
comedy website, "Funny or Die," in a direct appeal to the site's
audience of young adults.
The video drew 11 million viewers while Tuesday visits to the
federal website HealthCare.gov surged 40 percent to more than
890,000, according to the administration.
[to top of second column] |
But MIT professor Jonathan Gruber, who helped design Obamacare
and the 2007 Massachusetts healthcare reform, said the
administration was still likely to miss a 6 million target.
Consulting firm Avalere Health said in a report the final tally
would likely be 5.4 million. That forecast assumes Obamacare will
follow the same pattern as the Medicare Part D prescription drug
plan rollout in 2006, which saw 22 percent of enrollees sign up in
the final month.
The penalty for failure to obtain health coverage phases in over
three years. It will rise from the greater of $95 per adult or 1
percent of family income for this year to $695 per adult or 2.5
percent of family income for 2016.
MIT's Gruber said that while the administration's current focus was
on raising enrollment figures, details were not available on whether
Obamacare was succeeding in its main goals of covering the uninsured
and in reducing healthcare costs.
"The advocates who say it is working great are saying too much. And
the opponents who say it's working terribly are saying too much. We
simply do not know how its working yet," Gruber said, adding that
details would start to emerge over the next several months.
"We just need to be patient and let it work out. And you know what,
if it turns out to be bad, I have every faith in the American system
that they'll get rid of it."
(Reporting by David Morgan; additional
reporting by Richard Valdmanis; editing by Tom Brown)
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