Obamacare sign-ups for 2017 insurance plans across 39 states fell 4.4 percent, amid a politically charged debate over the health law’s future.
About 9.2 million people enrolled in individual insurance plans in states using the HealthCare.gov website, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Friday. Last year, 9.6 million people signed up in the 38 states then using the federal site.
The figures, which don’t include states like New York and California that run their own sign-up systems, are sure to prompt finger-pointing. Even before they came out, Democrats were blaming any shortfall on what they see as the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the law. The Trump administration, meanwhile, called the report another sign of the law’s shortcomings, pointing to a 25 percent increase in premiums and a decline in insurer participation.
“Obamacare has failed the American people, with one broken promise after another,” Matt Lloyd, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement. “We look forward to providing relief to those who are being harmed by the status quo and pursuing patient-centered solutions that will work for the American people.”
Still, the figures help show what’s at stake as lawmakers debate repealing the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare. And sign-ups, while closely watched, are just one metric of the law’s effects. In all, the U.S. estimates that about 20 million people have gained insurance under the law, helping lower the uninsured rate to 8.9 percent.
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