Every American should have health insurance, and with fees on the horizon for those who don’t, it seems that our future will be one where health insurance is treated more like car insurance, and will be as common as car insurance is now. Many have already used the federal healthcare marketplace, accessed through the website HealthCare.gov, to enroll in the all-but-required health insurance they’ll need to avoid fees on their taxes in the coming year, and according to recently-revealed statistics, these plans are extremely popular – but maybe not as popular as we’ve been told.
On January 27th, the Obama administration revealed that roughly 9.5 million people had used public marketplaces – either state or federal – to sign up for health coverage. With the February 15th deadline quickly approaching, it’s expected that many will scramble to sign up in the coming days, so here’s your reminder: this year’s open enrollment period for HealthCare.gov ends on February 15th, so if you’re not covered, it’s time to explore your options. (Don’t forget to visit Freeway Insurance! We provide fantastic insurance for an unbeatable price!)
Here are the latest Obamacare facts by the numbers…
– About 7.1 million have enrolled via the federal exchange…
– … While about 2.4 million have used state exchanges
– Florida, the state with the highest enrollment of nearly 1.3 million, uses the federal exchange
– California, the second highest enrolling at about 1.2 million, uses their own state exchange
– 26% of applicants in state and federal exchanges are 18 to 34 years of age
– 1 in 5 people age 18 to 34 still don’t have health insurance
– 87% of those covered by federal exchange policies qualify for financial assistance
– 3 million applicants were choosing their healthcare plans for the very first time
– Just over 15% of people enrolled in 2014 failed to pay their premiums
Secretary of Health and Human Services Ms. Sylvia Mathews Burwell provided many of these statistics, expressing an awareness that there was still much work to be done, but with the certainty of an enrollment spike as the end of open enrollment approaches, 2015 enrollment numbers are sure to continue growing. The enrollment seen so far has encouraged Ms. Burwell and her team to continue their work as tenaciously as they have been well into 2015 as more challenges present themselves. There’s health insurance for children and adults on offer, so no demographic can be ignored when considering what needs to be taken into account in future decisions.
The federal government will also be proposing changes to Medicare and Medicaid soon that will hopefully work alongside to create a more balanced and accessible healthcare environment for everyone. Ms. Burwell described the change as something that would, “reward value and care coordination, rather than value and care duplication,” moving Medicare away from its current fee-for-service system that many view as a dying and obsolete practice.
How do you feel about America’s sweeping healthcare reform? Do you think that Medicare should be moving away from fee-for-service practices? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below and join the debate!
