The hype and dream are fizzling out with the Administration’s big promise on Obamacare—that every American who liked his or her health plan could keep it. According to a new tally, nearly 1.5 million customers in the individual insurance market have lost their current health plans.
They’re losing coverage that many of them liked, with one woman in Florida saying the new option under Obamacare would cost her more than 10 times what she currently pays in monthly premiums. David Hogberg breaks down the insurance cancellations to date at the National Center for Public Policy Research:
-800,000 in New Jersey.
-119,000 from Blue Shield in California.
-160,000 from Kaiser in California.
-300,000 in Florida.
-24,000 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
-13,000 in central and eastern Pennsylvania.
-76,000 from CareFirst in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.That adds up to 1,492,000 cancellations. And that number is low as similar cancellation notices have gone out in Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina. We also know that Humana has cancelled policies in Maryland. Unfortunately, no numbers are available thus far in those cases.
What’s worse is that more Americans could end up losing their current health insurance under Obamacare. “In total, 16 million people who purchase insurance for themselves could lose their current health plans on January 1,” writes Heritage senior health policy analyst Chris Jacobs. “And that number doesn’t even count the Americans losing employer-provided health coverage—because their firms are dropping spousal coverage or dropping coverage for part-time workers.”
The mounting cancellations make it understandable why former White House advisor David Axelrod amended the Administration’s promise from everyone to just “most people” who will be able to keep their plans. How many Americans will be included in that “most” remains to be seen.
