President Barack Obama has announced that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchanges have reached 8 million enrollees, according to a report from The Hill.
President Obama announced the enrollment number — which represents people who signed up for plans through the health insurance exchanges from Oct. 1 to April 15 — at a White House press briefing this afternoon, according to the report. The exchanges have far exceeded expectations: The most recent Congressional Budget Office benchmark was 6 million.
The White House also revealed adults between the ages of 18 and 34 make up 28 percent of the enrollees, according to the report. People in this age group — also known as "young invincibles" — have been a focal point of enrollment efforts. Without an adequate amount of young and healthy enrollees, the total amount of premiums health insurers collect for exchange plans would be less than the total healthcare expenses of exchange enrollees, and insurance companies could increase premiums to compensate. However, a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation found a premium "death spiral" is unlikely to occur and insurers could still expect to earn profits even if only 25 percent of exchange enrollees were young adults.
The 2014 open enrollment period for the exchanges technically ended March 31. Although the 2014 open enrollment period officially ended on the last day of March, the Obama administration extended the deadline to April 15 for people who started signing up for coverage before the deadline but were unable to complete the process. Last week, before her resignation as HHS secretary, Kathleen Sebelius told the Senate Finance Committee enrollment had reached 7.5 million in the days following the official enrollment deadline.
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