http://washingtonexaminer.com/how-many-people-who-have-signed-up-for-obamacare-have-actually-paid/article/2541411How many people who have signed up for Obamacare have actually paid?
By PHILIP KLEIN | DECEMBER 31, 2013 AT 11:15 AM
Though the Obama administration has been touting an accelerated pace of individuals signing up for plans under the national health care law, it still remains an open question how many of these individuals actually completed the enrollment process by paying their first month's premiums.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Sunday announced that 1.1 million Americans in 36 states had signed up for a plan through the federally run Obamacare exchange. Adding signups for the remaining states running their own exchanges, the total number of reported signups would be slightly more than 2 million, according to the website acasignups.net.
In either case, the number would be far short of the 3.3 million enrollments the administration projected by the end of 2013.
The administration hasn't yet released data on how many of those who picked a plan have actually paid, but a report in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal suggests it could be low.
"As of Monday, however, only about half of enrollees billed for plans offered by more than 100 insurers in 17 states had paid their first month's premium, said Mark Waterstraat, chief strategy officer at Benaissance, a third-party billing firm that works for those insurers," the Journal reported.
The article went on to note, "Scott & White Health Plan, an insurer based in Temple, Texas, has received payment for only 35 percent of its prospective enrollees as of the close of business Sunday, said chief executive Allan Einboden."
America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry lobbying group, said insurers will allow individuals until Jan. 10 to pay premiums on policies set to begin on Jan. 1, though some have announced they will allow individuals even more time than that.
