Obamacare had a very good showing in deep red states in its final enrollment period, stretching from March 1 to April 19, during which nearly 4 million people signed up for private health coverage to push the law passed 8 million enrollees overall.
The law scored big in some of the largest states where local officials have obstructed its implementation. In Texas, enrollment ballooned from 295,025 at the end of February to 733,757 in the final enrollment report. In Florida, sign-ups skyrocketed in the last month and a half from 442,087 to 983,775. And in North Carolina, another significant increase: from 200,546 to 357,584.
The 36 states served by HealthCare.gov carried the load for Obamacare’s impressive last act. Collectively, their sign-ups more than doubled after March 1, from 2.6 million to 5.4 million. The 14 states running their own marketplaces had a solid final enrollment period as well, jumping from 1.6 million to 2.6 million, but that’s a mere 59 percent increase by comparison.
The red-state surge trickled down to smaller states, too. South Dakota and Alaska nearly doubled their enrollment totals in the final stretch to 13,104 and 12,890, respectively. Mississippi, the poorest and unhealthiest state in the union, had one of the largest final rushes, more than doubling from 25,554 sign-ups at the end of February to 61,494 in the final report.
For the map’s methodology, click here. The Medicaid baseline numbers were rough approximations and some states have included renewals in their numbers, which is why a few states have exceeded 100 percent of our baseline.
More wingnut heads explode.
Is that great news or awesome news?
Even the bassackwards red states Obama haters are signing up in big numbers despite having to go around their own leaders to do it. Do they still blindly hate Obama, of course they do, but they can sign up in private and then live in denial in public and have it both ways. Is that ridiculous and childish, of course it is but being motivated by hate pretty much removes the question of intelligence and brings the expectation of blind, bigoted ignorance. Some of them are smart enough to jump on a good thing at least which makes their uninsured friends seem a little meaner and less intelligent. The law is separating out the meanest and dumbest from the average everyday haters too.
All this in just a few months, the ACA is like a good virus that we don’t want to cure. Let it infect everyone.
Trainwreck anyone???
The real GOP horror story is when the percentage of uninsured starts to fall through the floor. Then any policy changes they have will obviously throw people off their health insurance. That’ll be political suicide.
I have a legal question. If someone listens to one of these pundits or an ad from a political group and forgoes Obamacare insurance and incurs an enormous medical bill because of it, can these entities be sued? Freedom of speech is not absolute (libel, yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theater) but I’m not sure what precedence this might come under.