ObamaCare Enrollment Hits 20 million as of March 2016
Roughly 20 million Americans have been covered under the ACA’s coverage provisions between Medicaid, the Marketplace, and children staying on their parents plan since 2010.
The 20 million figure was quoted by President Obama in July, but is likely referring to a March update. The last detailed report was a September 2015 government estimate that 17.6 million Americans had been insured as a result of the Affordable Care Act (so the update is noted a roughly 2.4 million increase, we estimate this would be mostly from Medicaid and the Marketplace).
The recent announcement by Barack Obama as part of an effort to remind people that repealing the ACA means 20 million less Americans without coverage (i.e. one of the many reasons “why Hillary”).
These numbers make sense given the statistics we have seen, and are confirmed by recent press releases and editorials including: Statement by the President on the Sixth Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act and the President’s expert editorial in JAMA in which the President doubled down on the public option.
Here are some facts from a March 3, 2016 HHS.Gov press release:
- 6.1 million uninsured young adults ages 19 to 25 have gained health insurance coverage because of the Affordable Care Act
- 2.3 million young adults gained coverage from 2010 through the start of Open Enrollment in October 2013 due to the provision that allows people under age 26 to stay on their parents’ plan
- An additional 3.8 million young adults gained coverage between October 2013 and early 2016, a 46.5 percent drop in the number of uninsured young adults over that period.
Gains in coverage because of the Affordable Care Act were strong across all racial and ethnic groups between October 2013 and early 2016.
- The uninsured rate among Black non-Hispanics dropped by more than 50 percent (from 22.4 to 10 percent); corresponding to about 3 million adults gaining coverage.
- The uninsured rate among Hispanics dropped by more than 25 percent (from 41.8 to 30.5 percent), corresponding to about 4 million Hispanic adults gaining coverage.
- The uninsured rate among White non-Hispanics declined by more than 50 percent (from 14.3 to 7.0 percent), corresponding to about 8.9 million adults gaining coverage.
Author: Thomas DeMichele
Thomas DeMichele is the head writer and founder of ObamaCareFacts.com, FactsOnMedicare.com, and other websites. He has been in the health insurance and healthcare information field since 2012. ObamaCareFacts.com is a...
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Karen Henry
the reason you probably get some skepticism on your numbers is because the site is affiliated with Obamacare, and because politics have infiltrated any discussion of Obamacare. For example, a factor that is true, but seldom is mentioned is that the “newly covered” who were stuck in Medicaid were covered by Obamacare only in the sense that it provided lot of the extra cost to the states, a cost subsidy which will be decreasing under its Obamacare’s provisions. So characterizing new MediCaird recipients as receiving beneifits from Obamacare is somewhat misleading because it just provides for extra funding, with Medicaid funding coming through a different revenue stream.
mandated provisions is misleading.
Bill
You fail to address how many people were insured before ACA and lost that coverage. ACA rules made it more economical for employers to drop coverage or raise employee costs. This is clearly evidenced in the chart.
Also, this chart shows a simply uncreditable, sudden drop in the most recent history. It’s obvious you get that result by counting the President’s statements as if they were actual results rather than political speechifying.
ObamaCareFacts.comThe Author
Well that isn’t true, it is in the link on the page (and I felt like we did say).
About 4 million lost their plans, that is accounted for in the 20 million number.
This data is all 100% factual. The fact that you think it isn’t tells me you are listening to biased media sources. Do the research and you’ll see I am 100% correct. You’ll also find that 20 million is a rough estimate. Things are complex and we are counting more than just marketplace coverage here! This is everyone covered under ACA’s provisions, net, after accounting for plan drops leading up to the law.
This is why the uninsured rate is at an all time low.
Literal 20 million on the line here.
More details: https://obamacarefacts.com/sign-ups/obamacare-enrollment-numbers/
Bill Sharp
The media I’m looking at is this site. You confirm my interpretation by now saying the data is “100% correct” when the accompanying copy says, “very roughly.” You repeat that it is a rough estimate elsewhere too.
It simply defies reason to claim that purchases greatly accelerated for a product which saw large price increases, diminished physician access and diminished insurer participation. You also state that the overall uninsured rate dropped from 18% to 13.4%. Accepting that without question, how is a program that fails to insure 75% of the people it is crafted for considered a success? It’s proponents certainly spoke in advance of insuring everyone. When it distorts the market and damages the coverage of the 85% previously covered, it is time the grown-ups admit the problems and fix it. I owned a business for 30 years. We insured every employee from day one and paid 100% of the premium for an excellent plan. From that perspective the ACA is a complete failure. Under the ACA we would be forbidden from buying everyone what the bill calls a ‘Cadillac plan.” That’s just wrong.
ObamaCareFacts.comThe Author
To be clear 100% correct that “20 million is a reasonable estimate given the data” (probably a little low at this point actually, but anyway).
This avoids people having to check some uncheckable statistic daily and then being like, “20,154,394 million people are covered as of this second”.
As for the uninsured rate, yeah that is again the high estimate. It counts plan drops… but here we have to go into a conversation about over 65 and under 18 and note that this is all pulled from poll and census data (which means we have to compare studies). See our page on the uninsured: https://obamacarefacts.com/uninsured-rates/
As for your other claims, I get your viewpoint… but I don’t think you are presenting metrics for us to discuss success and failure and are just asserting the ACA is a failure with no specific proof.
All viewpoints are welcome, but given my study of the law I can’t concede really on any of those points, in fact I can show the data (and do on the site) to back up our view. Click the links in the article for reports and details on study methods.
Bill Sharp
Proof of failure is simple and obvious. 75% of the uninsured are still uninsured. A third of the ACA insured has to be deducted from the success rate since nearly six million lost the insurance they already had (your numbers) making actual gain only 16 million, at the very best (your number again).
Many multiples of the number actually insured under ACA have seen declining coverage, less choice and wildly rising prices. As someone who paid 100% of insurance costs for every employee 30 years I can assure you the increases caused by ACA are astronomical. I never saw increases anything like these. If people don’t acknowledge this failure and deal with it instead of cheerleading it will only get worse.
Jim Huff
The number of new people that have health insurance, thru Obamacare, does that include their children & spouses in that total?
ObamaCareFacts.comThe Author
Yes. The 20 million number is a general figure that speaks to all newly insured who got covered via all coverage provisions. So it counts a kid under 26, the dependent of someone who got coverage via the employer mandate, someone who got medicaid, and someone who is newly insured via the marketplace.
The number is likely a bit higher right now, given the recent surge due to the repeal, but the general numbers all check out and account for plan drops too.
Jeana
How many gained coverage as a result of the employer mandate? Checking many sources and have not been able to get a solid answer on this.
Erin
That’s a really good question. It doesn’t appear that it is having any significant effect on the number of insured largely because of the Family Affordability Glitch, states with low minimum wages have many who don’t make enough to file (and thus are exempt from the requirement to have insurance), and because anyone whose only insurance options are more than 8.13% of the income are able to file for an affordability exemption from the requirement to have insurance or owe the fee. Others simply decline employer insurance and pay the fee even if they can’t get an exemption because the fee for not having insurance may still be less than the cost of insurances they are eligible for.
Jparker
How many gained coverage as a result of the employer mandate?
ObamaCareFacts.comThe Author
There is no exact number, but consider this:
A May 2015 RAND corporation study estimated that 22.8 million got coverage and 5.9 million lost plans for a net total of 16.9 million newly insured. 9.6 million people enrolled in employer-sponsored health plans, followed by Medicaid (6.5 million), the individual marketplaces (4.1 million), nonmarketplace individual plans (1.2 million) and other insurance sources (1.5 million). To clarify that is 4.1 million newly enrolled in the Marketplace and 7.1 who transitioned to Marketplace coverage for a total of 11.2 million.
In other words, with gains and losses considered, about half of the newly insured are newly insured because of the mandate.
Dan DiFiore
How many of the 20 million went on Medicaid?
ObamaCareFacts.comThe Author
It is hard to get exact numbers and depending on if we are talking about total sign ups or new sign ups we are going to get different numbers. Here is a helpful breakdown from last year by the RAND corporation.
The May 2015 RAND corporation study estimated that 22.8 million got coverage and 5.9 million lost plans for a net total of 16.9 million newly insured.
9.6 million people enrolled in employer-sponsored health plans, followed by Medicaid (6.5 million), the individual marketplaces (4.1 million), nonmarketplace individual plans (1.2 million) and other insurance sources (1.5 million). To clarify that is 4.1 million newly enrolled in the Marketplace and 7.1 who transitioned to Marketplace coverage for a total of 11.2 million marketplace enrollees.
So how many of the 20 million, would likely be 7-8 million of them following the trends from last year.
Fred
Of the 20 million, how many of the 20 million are on Medicaid?