The media hasn’t talked about Obamacare since the website was fixed, but very quietly the president’s health care law has morphed into a raging success as enrollment is projected to be 2 million over the administration’s 2015 goal.
Enrollment as of February 13 was estimated to be at 11.3 million. Expectations are the ACA will blow past the administration’s goal of 9 million for 2015.
As Politico reported, the quiet push to get people enrolled was an intentional White House strategy:
Obamacare enrollment draws to a close Sunday night, and all signs point to the White House easily meeting its target of getting 9 million Americans covered in 2015 — a drama-free ending to a season that proved a 180-degree turnaround from last year’s many problems.
The quiet conclusion isn’t just because HealthCare.gov hasn’t been on the verge of collapse. The White House intentionally adopted a lower key, more targeted pitch this year. There were a lot fewer star-studded tweets promoting the website and coverage.
Red states whose political leaders oppose the ACA the most have seen a huge surge in enrollment, “Republicans who thought that they were stopping the law by refusing to set up their own state exchanges have created a trap for themselves. Florida, Maine, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina have all covered at least 40% of their eligible residents under the federal exchange. Arkansas also depends on subsidies to fund their “private option” plan. All of these states will face an immediate backlash if the Supreme Court rules that only states that have set up exchanges are eligible for subsidies.”
The fact that the ACA deadline can come and go and civilization will not collapse is proof that Republicans have been and remain completely wrong on healthcare. Tens of millions of people have access to affordable healthcare because of the law.
The mainstream press has largely ignored the story of the biggest change to the nation’s health care accessibility in decades exceeding goals and expectations. The press remains interested in only discussing perceived failures. The same media establishment that was breathlessly predicting doom for the ACA when the website launch struggled is silent today.
The ACA is working. Demand is higher than even the White House predicted, but don’t expect to hear any of this from a media that delights in criticizing this president.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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