When ObamaCare was being sold to the American people, one of the claims was that it would get uninsured Americans private insurance. Instead, it seems to be going in the opposite direction.
This week, The Post’s S.A. Miller and Carl Campanile reported that only a third of the 37,000 New Yorkers who enrolled in health care through the state’s new exchange signed up for private insurance. Nearly two-thirds opted for Medicaid, a state program partly funded by the federal government.
That’s just what’s got many insurers worried. Because to pay for ObamaCare’s benefits, they need a great many more healthy people to sign up.
It’s not just New York, either. We’re seeing the same trend in other states with their own health-care exchanges. Indeed, the number of new Medicaid enrollees in states like Kentucky, Washington and Oregon tops 80 percent. And why not? In contrast to the private plans, Medicaid is free.
These new waves of enrollment come after a years-long bipartisan effort to make it even easier to join Medicaid. That’s a big deal for New York, because the Empire State already spends more than any other state on Medicaid, with costs growing at an unsustainable 13 percent per year. Other states are going to find themselves with similar problems if the trend on the state exchanges continues.
And unless the trend reverses, it’s going ing to be a bigger headache for ObamaCare.