WASHINGTON (AP) – Historic gains in health insurance coverage may be leveling off, with the Obama administration announcing Thursday that it expects only a slight overall increase in enrollment next year.
With the 2016 sign-up season two weeks away, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell set a target of 10 million people enrolled and paying their premiums by the end of next year. That’s about as many as are covered now through the health law’s online markets for subsidized private health insurance.
Burwell said it’s getting harder to sign up the remaining uninsured.
The administration’s new target is well below an estimate from congressional budget analysts of 20 million covered in 2016. The huge difference quickly raised questions about whether the big rise in health insurance coverage under President Barack Obama’s may be leveling off, leaving millions still uninsured.
“If enrollment plateaus, we may see growing discussion of whether the law is fulfilling expectations in covering the uninsured, and whether the subsidies for low- and middle-income people are sufficient to make coverage truly affordable,” said Larry Levitt of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.