Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Obama Administration Launches Full-On Courtship As Open Enrollment Nears
The Obama administration says it鈥檒l send more than 10 million mailings to woo the uninsured for the final health care law sign-up season of President Barack Obama鈥檚 tenure. Add to that countless email messages to both prospective and returning customers 鈥 and ads on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. (10/13)
The Obama administration is planning to use television ads and direct mail to boost participation in the Affordable Care Act鈥檚 exchanges in the coming open-enrollment period, but its timing will mean fighting for attention amid the noise of the election. The ads, which are partly focused on the affordability of coverage under the law, will run headlong into campaigns by opponents of the law who are using their own political ads to denounce it as a costly boondoggle. (Armour, 10/13)
The Obama administration is touting new outreach tactics that it says will help bring more young people into ObamaCare as a new signup period nears.聽Officials say they have learned lessons from the first three years of signups in order to hone their messages.聽Bringing a higher percentage of young and healthy people, or increasing the overall enrollment number, would help ease insurer concerns about a smaller and sicker group of enrollees than expected. (Sullivan, 10/13)
A new analysis projects that ObamaCare enrollment will be roughly flat or could even decline slightly next year. The analysis聽from Standard & Poor's projects that between 11.7 million and 13.3 million people will sign up for ObamaCare in the enrollment period that begins Nov. 1. That is compared to 12.7 million who signed up last year.聽That means that two years of growth in the marketplace will turn into a 鈥渟ignificant slowdown鈥 for 2017, the report says. (Sullivan, 10/13)
Enrollment in the Obamacare insurance marketplace is likely to stall or even decline for 2017 as higher premiums drive away people who aren鈥檛 eligible for government subsidies, according to S&P Global Ratings聽forecasts. ... This November will be the fourth open enrollment period for individuals to choose insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama鈥檚 signature health-care law. The 鈥渟ignificant slowdown鈥 predicted by S&P would be another setback for ACA鈥檚聽government-run insurance markets, after big insurers pulled out of many states because of mounting losses. (Doherty, 10/13)