The Obama administration took a victory lap Tuesday as enrollment聽through the health law鈥檚 exchanges topped 7 million, a goal previously thought untouchable when the website healthcare.gov sputtered and crashed聽as聽sign-ups began last fall.
In a statement in the Rose Garden, President Barack Obama, said, 鈥淭he debate over repealing this law is over. The Affordable Care Act is here to stay.鈥
But he alluded to continuing political pressure from Republicans and other opponents of the law and acknowledged challenges still remain. Although the law is bringing coverage to millions of Americans, 鈥渢hat doesn鈥檛 mean that all the problems in health care are solved forever.鈥
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney broke the news of the enrollment tally at his daily press briefing, telling reporters that the last-minute surge of traffic to the website and the call center pushed enrollment to 7,041,000, a figure that does not include sign-ups in the past few days聽through state-based exchanges. 聽Healthcare.gov is managing enrollment in 36 states, while 14 states and District of Columbia are running their own exchanges.
鈥淲hat was predicted to be a failure has been a success聽鈥 despite the fact that we聽basically lost two months because of the troubles with the website,鈥 Carney said, adding later that 鈥渨e crossed one milestone here but there are many more to cross in the future.鈥
Carney said it is still too early to know how many聽enrollees did not previously have health care coverage or how many have paid their first premium, although the 鈥渙verwhelming majority鈥 of people pay premiums on time, he said. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Monday in a that聽聽insurance companies estimate that between 80 and 90 percent of enrollees have paid their premiums.
The Congressional Budget Office originally projected that 7 million people would sign up for the exchanges by the end of the enrollment period. After computer problems botched the Oct. 1 rollout, the CBO revised that estimate down to 6 million. 聽Rightly or wrongly, the ability of the law to聽 hit that target had become a bellwether of the law鈥檚 success. 聽But there are practical implications as well. The more enrollees there are, the more likely the聽risk pool will be balanced between sick and healthy individuals. That calculus will be based on enrollments at the state and local levels where premiums are set, say experts.
鈥淓ach state is its own insurance market, whether it uses the federal exchange system or not. These state differences could mean that the Obamacare exchanges are viable in some states and regions of the country, while in other states and regions the numbers remain too low to sustain a stable insurance pool,鈥 James C. Capretta,聽 a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote in a in National Review Online.
Democrats hailed the 7 million tally. 鈥淎mericans have spoken by the millions in their desire for more affordable, comprehensive health insurance,鈥 said Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich, the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee.聽 鈥淚nsurance that can鈥檛 kick them off when they get sick. Insurance that can鈥檛 limit lifetime coverage. Insurance that doesn鈥檛 threaten to bankrupt their families when an illness strikes. The amount of interest in the insurance exchanges demonstrates that the reality experienced in health care reform refutes the Republican rhetoric to destroy it.鈥
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said House Republicans would continue with their efforts to repeal the law. 聽鈥淭he president鈥檚 health care law continues to wreak havoc on American families, small businesses and our economy, and as I鈥檝e said many times, the problem was never just about the website 鈥 it鈥檚 the whole law,鈥 Boehner said in a statement.聽 鈥淢illions of Americans are seeing their premiums rise, not the lower prices the president promised.聽 Many small businesses are afraid to hire new workers, instead cutting hours and dropping health coverage for existing employees. Many Americans can no longer see their family doctor, despite the pledge no one would lose access to their physician.鈥
Capretta鈥檚 column expressed similar concerns. 聽鈥淭he end result will be a reduction in the uninsured of some magnitude, that鈥檚 for sure,鈥 he wrote. 鈥淏ut it was never going to be hard to reduce the uninsured if that was all that concerned policymakers. Massive public subsidies and expansion of free public-insurance programs can expand insurance enrollment, so long as others were willing to pay for it.鈥
Obama acknowledged the health law鈥檚 bumpy rollout and warned there may be more days ahead where the website isn鈥檛 working and said some parts of the law must be improved. A handful of Senate Democrats 鈥 including some facing tough re-election campaigns 鈥 have introduced , including adding a less generous level of coverage that would be cheaper than those currently on the exchanges and making coverage optional for employers with up to 100 workers.
Addressing an audience that included key congressional Democrats and administration officials, Obama chided Republicans and other critics who have pushed for the law鈥檚 repeal without offering alternatives and urged them to work with him and Democrats to make changes. 鈥淲hy are folks working so hard for people not to have health insurance?鈥 Obama asked, adding later, 鈥渢here are still no death panels. Armageddon has not arrived. Instead this law is helping millions of Americans and in the coming years it will help millions more.鈥