Hawaii Cuts Uninsured Population in Half
In case you haven’t seen Charles Gaba’s great website ACAsignups.net, you really need to see it. It is the best source available for tracking Obamacare enrollments, covering all categories of signups, including Medicaid, the federal and state exchanges, off-exchange signups, and estimated under-26ers.
One of the most notable achievements of Obamacare is in the President’s birthplace, Hawaii, where the number of uninsured people has already fallen by more than half, despite having a horrible website for the state-run exchange. The biggest chunk of this is through Medicaid enrollments, both people newly eligible and those previously eligible who had not signed up (“woodworkers,” people who’ve come out of the woodwork). Here are the totals:
Uninsured: 102,000
Medicaid: 48,000
Exchange: 4,661
Off-exchange: 4,000
Total newly insured: 56,661, or 55.6%.
Moreover, approximately 10,000 Hawaii residents are ineligible for Medicaid or ACA subsidies due to their immigration status, so the state is doing very well indeed.
For those of you who haven’t seen it, below is Gaba’s pride and joy, “The Graph.” It’s the best visual interpretation we have of how signups have proceeded since the rollout of Obamacare October 1. Note that we can expect a big last-minute rush over the final weeks of open enrollment, so we will see soon just how well the first year’s signups have gone.
Source: ACAsignups.net
The Graph
Cross-posted at Middle Class Political Economist.
Ken:
I do not know if you caught my post on the penalty portion. Quite a few people are under the assumption all they have to do is pay the $95 (individual) to avoid healthcare insurance enrollment. This is not entirely true as this only applies to those with incomes up to ~$20,000. If one makes more than $20,000; a 1% penalty applies after deductions.
By the way, great graph!
Thanks for the info.
Thank Charles Gaba for the graph; it is great!