Young enrollees of Obamacare fall well short of goal

[Geee]

Washington Times:

Young adults are not signing up for Obamacare at a rate that could keep insurance premiums from going up, according to an Obama administration report that says nearly 2.2 million Americans have enrolled.

 

The latest report by the Department of Health and Human Services says only 24 percent of enrollees as of Dec. 28 were aged 18 to 34, short of the 40 percent goal among a demographic considered vital to making the law work.

 

Even so, the administration is optimistic that young Americans and uninsured person of all stripes would sign up in time for the March 31 deadline in the Affordable Care Act’s inaugural year.

“The numbers show that there is a very strong national demand for affordable health care made possible by the Affordable Care Act,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said. “More than six million Americans have now either signed up for private health insurance plans or for Medicaid coverage through the marketplace.”

[Geee]

Death Spiral: Too Few Young Americans Signing Up for Obamacare

 

Convincing throngs of young and healthy people to overpay for coverage in order to subsidize aging, sicker Americans was always going to be one of Obamacare advocates' toughest tasks. In assessing the composition of healthy, sustainable risk pools, the administration pegged its target percentage of "young invincibles" at just shy of 40 percent. Coming up short of that goal would risk an adverse selection "death spiral" -- or a politically radioactive bailout. The White House has been unusually tight-lipped about how the nationwide numbers are shaping up, and now we know why. Uh oh:

 

Just 24 percent of Americans signing up for coverage under President Obama's health care law through December were part of the young adult demographic, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday -- well below the nearly 39 percent the White House had once deemed essential to the law's success. In a new report, HHS said that through Dec. 28 (about halfway through the six-month open enrollment period), roughly 2.2 million Americans signed up for coverage on one of the law's health insurance exchanges. That's well below the administration's target of 3.3 million. And HHS still hasn't disclosed how many of those who have signed up for insurance have actually paid their first premiums, which is necessary for enrollment to be finalized...in the report, HHS said that just 24 percent of those who signed up so far were aged 18 to 34. In December, a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation identified a “worst-case scenario” situation in which just 25 percent of enrollees were in the 18-to-34 demographic.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2014/01/14/survey-not-enough-young-healthy-americans-are-signing-up-for-obamacare-n1778511