HealthCare.gov Got Fewer Than 50,000 Enrolled in October

The states who are doing
their own health care exchanges and HealthCare.gov have similar
enrollment numbers for October: Fewer than 50,000. Here’s the
Wall Street Journal on the
federal exchange:

Initial reports suggest that fewer than 50,000 people
successfully navigated the troubled federal health-care website to
enroll in private health insurance plans as of last week, two
people familiar with the matter said Monday.

The early tally falls far short of internal goals set by
President Barack Obama’s administration in the months leading up to
the opening of the HealthCare.gov site Oct. 1, and the low number
has worried health insurers that are counting on higher
turnout.

Technology problems and design flaws have blocked many users
from completing insurance applications or creating accounts to use
the site, which serves consumers in the 36 states where the federal
government oversees the new health-insurance exchanges.

Here’s Businessweek on the handful of
state-run exchanges:

About 49,100 people have enrolled in Obamacare plans through 12
state-run insurance exchanges, according to a consulting company
that’s providing a hint on the data congressional Republicans
sought during hearings in the past two weeks.

Enrollment through Nov. 10 represents 3 percent of the 1.4
million people projected to sign up in those states by the end of
2014, Washington-based Avalere Health said in a statement today.
The data don’t include California, the most populous U.S. state,
Massachusetts or Oregon. It also doesn’t account for those enrolled
through the federal website serving 36 states.

The number, frankly, is actually higher than I thought it would
be.

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