In November, 364,682 people enrolled in healthcare through state or federal exchanges, signaling a giant leap from the unsettlingly low numbers of Obamacare’s earlier days. Now experts predict that the numbers will continue to grow, because more people are eligible for financial assistance.
“We expect a much higher proportion of people who enroll in plans to qualify for subsidies,” said Matt Eyles, executive vice president of Avalere Heath. “It’s still at less than 50% for the states and 40% for the feds. The expectation is that it would be between 80 and 90%…It could be that those are the people who are hard to reach. There’s a big opportunity there.”
Peter Lee, executive director of the California exchange Covered California, said that many people who are eligible for financial assistance may not know anything about the insurance system or how to get it. “Many of them are less familiar with insurance. They take more engagement,” he said.
The goal is still set at 7 million customers in the first year, and even though there has been a steady increase, that number is still a ways off. “It’s just a big, big number,” said Alan Cohen, chief strategy officer at Liazon. “The numbers coming out seem like so much more than before, but they still have to be so much more. We could almost be lulled into complacency.”
