Obamacare's first two weeks of enrollments came in at a faster pace than last year, and are looking strong.
The U.S. said 534,778 people picked plans through U.S.-run marketplaces during the week that ended Nov. 14, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which runs the healthcare.gov sign-up website. About 300,000 individuals picked health plans in the second week of sign-ups last year, though that period included the Thanksgiving holiday.
That brings the total signed up for 2016 coverage to about 1.1 million, the government said in a statement, after 543,098 signed up during the first week. So far, two-thirds of the people who have enrolled this year are renewing policies. The split between renewals and new purchasers was about half-and-half at this point in time in 2014.
That's a pretty healthy renewal rate, and an as-expected rate of new sign-ups. The remaining eligible, uninsured community is harder to reach and harder to convince, so the administration did not set high expectations for getting huge numbers of new customers. All the same, that's more than 180,000 people who are getting new coverage. Not bad for two weeks. Open enrollment for coverage in effect on January 1 ends December 15, and closes for 2016 entirely on January 31.
And can we just say, 1.08 million people with health insurance? Yes, let's say that because it's good. That’s on the federal exchange, by the way, not counting big states like California and New York which have their own exchanges. Those numbers will come in later.
So maybe Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell shouldn't be so committed to trying to repeal it. Given how hard it has proven for him to get the 51 votes he needs to do it, well, he should just move on.