For the first time, the federal government has
complied and released information on Obamacare enrollments coming in the special enrollment period. These are the people who have had major life changes that forced them out of their previous insurance—losing a job, getting divorced, etc.—and who had the opportunity to get new coverage right away. In fact, fully half of the people enrolling this year on the federal insurance exchange—467,385 of them—fall into this category.
According to a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, half of the 944,000 new enrollees on the federally run exchanges in 37 states between Feb. 23 and June 30 signed up because they'd lost their previous coverage. The agency doesn't have data for states that fully operate their own marketplaces.
Losing health coverage is one of the qualifying events that allows individuals to access the exchanges outside of the regular yearly sign-up through what's called a special enrollment period, or SEP.
People who left jobs with health insurance previously had the option of paying the entire cost of their insurance on their own under COBRA, a proposition that is way too expensive for many people. If they were impoverished enough, or qualified, they could potentially go on Medicaid. But Obamacare has created the real safety net of providing more affordable insurance options.
That has created much more flexibility for people in their work lives. People, particularly those with children to care for, have the option of voluntarily working part-time. Entrepreneurs have the chance to quit their jobs and start news businesses, without having to worry about being uninsured. In other words, the law is working the way it was supposed to for the consumer.