Little More than 10 Percent of Washington State Obamacare Signups for Private Insurance, Mostly Medicaid Enrollment
The vast majority of the 176,000+ who signed up for insurance coverage were Medicaid eligible
Obamacare's defenders often point to states like Washington to prove that the law is succeeding. However, the Evergreen State is signing up vastly more people for Medicaid than for private insurance.
Through the first two months of enrollment, Healthplanfinder, the state's health-care exchange, has enrolled 176,468 Washingtonians in coverage. Over 91,000 are newly eligible for expanded Medicaid and more than 66,000 were currently eligible but were not enrolled. That leaves only 18,131 residents who purchased private policies.