The official count from the administration for Obamacare enrollments has
hit 4 million, with one more month of open enrollment to go.
The window to sign up for coverage closes at the end of next month, and crossing the 4 million mark is a key milestone. Enrollment has recovered much of the ground it lost in October and November, when technical problems plagued HealthCare.gov, and it now seems all but impossible that the law will collapse on its own, as its Republican critics predicted. [...]
The enrollment figures come with additional caveats: They don't reflect how many people have actually paid their first premium, activating their coverage. That number—which is likely around 20 to 30 percent lower than HHS's figure—is the true measure of enrollment. HHS also hasn't said how many enrollees were previously uninsured—another key metric in measuring real enrollment against CBO's expectations.
Along with that comes news from online broker EHealthInsurance.com that its customers are
getting younger. They report that the average age of customres buying new plans dropped from 44 in October to 36 this month. The higher proportion of younger enrollees is also driving down premium costs, with a $100 drop in average premium prices since last fall, from $370 a month to $273. Forty percent of EHealth's applicants are in the 18 to 34 demographic, the company reports.
People can purchase the same Affordable Care Act policies available in federal and state exchanges at EHealth and with other online brokers, but they miss out on the federal subsidies available to them, if they do so.