Fewer than 300 Mainers enroll in health exchange
Less than 10% of Maine applicants succeeded in enrolling in health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act in its first month, due largely to a federal website hobbled by technical problems since its launch.
The Portland Press Herald reported the numbers released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cover the period from Oct. 1 to Nov. 2. During that time, the department received 3,550 applications for health insurance to cover 6,497 Maine residents. Just 271 of those applicants made it far enough in the process to select an insurance plan. That number represents just 5% of the more than 5,000 people deemed eligible for coverage through the application process and falls far short of the 65,000 to 104,000 people the Maine Bureau of Insurance had estimated would sign up.
That low success rate mirrors the trend in 36 other states that, like Maine, decided to allow the federal government to manage their online health insurance exchange. Nationally, 106,185 people enrolled in coverage under the new exchange plans. Fewer than 27,000 of those enrollees were in the 37 states that did not set up their own exchanges.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Washington have harangued DHHS for its rollout of the online marketplaces and reopened debate about whether the plans will be attractive enough to succeed. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said, in response to the low enrollment numbers, that the problem with the law goes beyond a faulty website but in premiums that are too high. Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said she’s not surprised by the low numbers early in the law’s rollout and that the plans are affordable.
The Press Herald reported in September that rates for the mid-level plans on the health care exchange are lower — before factoring in federal subsidies — than comparable individual plans in the state, but that plans in Maine’s exchange are more expensive than the national average.
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments