Is Obamacare signing up the uninsured? Its a tough call.
Critics have suggested most of them had insurance before, but had to buy new plans because their old ones were not compliant with the new law.
The Obama administration has touted a recent Gallup poll that found the rate of uninsured Americans dropping to 15.2 percent in February—the lowest rate since 2008.
But McKinsey, a leading management consulting firm, polled about 2,100 exchange-eligible Americans in February, and found only 27 percent of people who had picked a plan were previously uninsured. Only 53 percent of them had paid their first premium, compared with 86 percent of the previously insured. With 5 million total enrollments, that would be about 715,500 previously uninsured Americans who had chosen and paid for new insurance.
The Department of Insurance paper application asks about previous insurance and I believe the Colorado on line exchange, Connect for Health Colorado asks as well.
From Connect for Health Colorado’s CEO, Patty Fonteneau…
Fortunately, many Coloradans are recognizing the benefits of our Marketplace. This last Monday, we reached over 100,000 covered lives in commercial health insurance. And more than 150,000 additional Coloradans have qualified for Medicaid through the Medicaid expansion.
So 50% more people signed up for effectively “free” health insurance than signed up for coverage where at least some money comes out of their pocket. At what cost?
