The federal government released its first ACA enrollment figures and, as expected, they reflect the troubled rollout of the healthcare.gov website. Less than 27,000 people have enrolled in a private health plan through the federal exchange. Compare that with approximately 35,000 people who enrolled in a health plan through the California exchange. In fact, California alone accounts for a third of the total enrollment in private plans (about 106,000). On a more positive note, nearly 400,000 people have enrolled in Medicaid, supporting my theory that the Medicaid expansion will prove much more critical to expanding access to health care than most people realize.
The enrollment numbers are certainly low, but I’m not going to worry unless the trend continues for another couple months. And the best way to increase enrollment is to fix the website.
