What Would Ezra Say?

or, Things That Make You Go Hmm...

By KEVIN SACK
While 375,000 people with pre-existing conditions were expected to enroll in insurance pools created under the health care law, only 8,011 have done so.

What if it turns out the people pushing this thing back then puffed the numbers?

The government’s health care actuary projected in April that 375,000 otherwise uninsurable people would rush to gain coverage this year, and that the money would be exhausted by 2012.

Instead, after two or three months of operation in most states, the plans have enrolled only 8,011 people, according to figures made available for the first time by the Department of Health and Human Services. Although there are notable exceptions, enrollment in most states as of Nov. 1 was well below 10 percent of capacity.

While Pennsylvania has signed up 1,657 people and Illinois 664, New York and Florida each have enrolled fewer than 300, and 21 states have fewer than 50.
...
Administrators of the risk pools, which are formally called Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plans, point to a variety of explanations for low enrollment — lack of awareness among a hard-to-reach target population, a requirement that applicants be uninsured for at least six months, and premiums that, although set at market rates, are often unaffordable.