MacIver News Service | March 11, 2014
[Washington, D.C.] Newly released data from the federal government shows 71,443 people have signed up for insurance on the Obamacare exchange in Wisconsin through the end of February, up from 56,435 at the end of January.Original estimates expected 277,000 people to sign up for insurance in Wisconsin, but estimates have dropped drastically to fewer than 80,000 by March 31st.
Women make up 56 percent of the enrollees in Wisconsin, while men make up 44 percent. Young adults, age 18-34, make up 21 percent of enrollees, and 41 percent of the enrollees are age 55-64.
Nationwide, 2.6 million people have signed up on the HealthCare.gov website and 1.6 million have enrolled on state-based exchanges. In total, just over 4.2 million people have enrolled in Obamacare.
Original federal estimates expected 40 percent of enrollees nationwide to be young adults, which are needed to carry most of the financial burden. However, only 25 percent of enrollees are age 18-34 across the country.
New CBO estimates expect six million people to sign up for insurance on the exchanges nationwide by March 31st. That means 1.8 million more people would need to sign up in the final month of the enrollment period. Only 943,000 signed up in February. The Obama administration originally expected seven million people to sign up.
On top of the 4.2 million people who signed up for private insurance on the exchanges, 4.3 million people have been determined to be eligible for Medicaid. In Wisconsin, 68,655 are Medicaid eligible.
The administration has not released the data for how many enrollees have paid for their plans. In February, the state’s Office of the Commissioner of Insurance said only half of enrollees had actually paid.
The full report from the federal Department of Health and Human Services is available here.