Washington – The Affordable Care Act has yet again beaten predictions of its downfall, as government figures released Wednesday showed unexpectedly solid sign-ups for…
Washington – The Affordable Care Act has yet again beaten predictions of its downfall, as government figures released Wednesday showed unexpectedly solid sign-ups for coverage next year.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said nearly 8.5 million people had enrolled as of last Saturday’s deadline, with about a dozen states still left to report. Though the final count won’t be known for a few months, it will be higher.
Wednesday’s number was about 4 percent below a comparable statistic from the same time last year. Earlier progress reports from the government had pointed to a potential enrollment decline of more than 10 percent. The Trump administration has sharply scaled back promotional advertising and taken a number of other actions that unsettled the health law’s insurance markets. And last Friday, a Republican-appointed federal judge in Texas ruled the whole law unconstitutional.
