There are signs that suggest the effort to cover uninsured Americans under Obamacare has slowed to a crawl,
The Wall Street Journal reports.
For one, Enroll America, the nonprofit organization dedicated to achieving sign-ups, has begun laying off staff and redirecting its focus amid funding cuts and inconsistent sign-ups during this year's open enrollment period,
Politico reported.
In addition,
an analysis from The New York Times found that sign-ups have begun to stagnate in a number of key states.
"California, the state with the most enrollments in 2014, increased them by only 1 percentage point this year, despite a big investment in outreach. New York improved by only 2 percentage points. Washington's rates are unchanged," the analysis said.
Most states did not demonstrate consistent gains during the enrollment periods, the Times found, with one healthcare official telling the newspaper that she was "starting to wonder if we've overestimated the whole thing."
Meanwhile,
an analysis by Avalere Health found a direct relationship between the percentage of eligible Americans signing up and income: as income rises and eligibility for subsidies declines, so does demand for insurance through the exchange.
According to the Journal, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that Obamacare enrollment will average 11 million people, with 8 million receiving subsidies. But to date, enrollees reporting incomes above the threshold for subsidies represent just 2 percent of the uninsured who have signed up, making it unlikely that the administration will achieve the CBO's estimate of 6 million unsubsidized enrollees by 2016.
"With outreach efforts scaling back, and many Americans uninterested in ACA coverage absent hefty federal inducements, CBO's estimate of 21 million enrollees next year seems unlikely to be met. If this year's results from California and New York are any indication, a good question may be whether 2016 enrollment will grow at all," the Journal concluded.
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