Policy

HealthCare.gov Got Fewer Than 50,000 Enrolled in October

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The states who are doing their own health care exchanges and HealthCare.gov have similar enrollment numbers for October: Fewer than 50,000. Here's the Wall Street Journal on the federal exchange:

Initial reports suggest that fewer than 50,000 people successfully navigated the troubled federal health-care website to enroll in private health insurance plans as of last week, two people familiar with the matter said Monday.

The early tally falls far short of internal goals set by President Barack Obama's administration in the months leading up to the opening of the HealthCare.gov site Oct. 1, and the low number has worried health insurers that are counting on higher turnout.

Technology problems and design flaws have blocked many users from completing insurance applications or creating accounts to use the site, which serves consumers in the 36 states where the federal government oversees the new health-insurance exchanges.

Here's Businessweek on the handful of state-run exchanges:

About 49,100 people have enrolled in Obamacare plans through 12 state-run insurance exchanges, according to a consulting company that's providing a hint on the data congressional Republicans sought during hearings in the past two weeks.

Enrollment through Nov. 10 represents 3 percent of the 1.4 million people projected to sign up in those states by the end of 2014, Washington-based Avalere Health said in a statement today. The data don't include California, the most populous U.S. state, Massachusetts or Oregon. It also doesn't account for those enrolled through the federal website serving 36 states.

The number, frankly, is actually higher than I thought it would be.

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