Between people newly enrolling in Obamacare and people renewing their plans, more than 1 million people have selected a plan through the HealthCare.gov marketplace in the first two weeks of open enrollment.
HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said last week that enrollment surged by 100,000 the day after Donald Trump was declared president-elect, the busiest day of enrollment so far.
“Consumers are concerned,” said Jennifer Sullivan, vice president of programs at Enroll America, a D.C.-based not-for-profit group that helps people enroll. “They value this coverage, and they want to do everything they can to make sure they are well-positioned to keep it next year.”
This makes it harder for those pesky repeal plans, because the more people on it, the more hurt Republicans are going to cause. And while they continue to insist they're going to "replace" Obamacare, they continue to fail to show their work. They don't have a plan, they have Paul Ryan's outline of a plan and they have something "really terrific" Donald Trump has been promising. Which will end up being whatever Ryan comes up with because Trump isn't going to do his own homework.
But so far, a hell of a lot of people are being held in limbo, not knowing what to do but take their chances and go ahead and enroll, just in case maybe someday Republicans will have something to offer them other than a pack of lies. Remember though, every enrollment is a small part of the larger resistance. The more people on Obamacare, the harder it is to take it away.