Despite a surge in people signing up for health plans this month, health policy experts have said the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchanges will likely fall short of Congressional Budget Office enrollment projections, according to a report from The Hill.
Earlier this week, CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner announced more than 1.1 million people had enrolled in health plans through the federal exchange between Oct. 1 and Dec. 24. An estimated 1 million have also enrolled through the state-based exchanges, according to the report. Still, the total enrollment number fails to meet the Obama administration's goal of 3 million enrollees by the end of 2013.
Enrollment numbers have been lower than expected because of the numerous technical issues that have plagued HealthCare.gov. However, following repair efforts, the site could support 83,000 concurrent users as of Dec. 23, and enrollment has been rising, according to HHS.
However, American Enterprise Institute Scholar Joe Antos and Ubran Institute Fellow John Holahan both told The Hill the final enrollment number as of March 31 will likely be around 4 million or 5 million, less than the CBO estimate of 7 million.
Others think the site could still hit that enrollment target. Kaiser Family Foundation Senior Vice President Larry Levitt told The Hill the site could see a marked rise in enrollment now that the site has been significantly improved. He also said federal officials will likely step up advertising efforts for HealthCare.gov now that it's functioning better.
Mr. Levitt also pointed to the rollout of the Massachusetts healthcare reform law, which suggests many people will wait until the last minute to enroll, according to the report.
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