Penalties don't stop millions from ignoring health insurance signups

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's individual mandates, fines that are meant to motivate people who can afford to buy health insurance to enroll, may not be effective, according to The New York Times.

While many forecasters, including the Congressional Budget Office, expect enrollment to surge next year after people have been fined, an experiment conducted by the Obama administration suggests otherwise.

In March and April, HHS reopened the insurance marketplaces for people who were uninsured in 2014, faced a penalty and still hadn't signed up for insurance for 2015.

An estimated 3 million to 6 million people likely fell into this category, but the federal government announced Tuesday that only 147,000 people took advantage of the extended sign ups in March and April, according to the report. This number has not yet been finalized, but it is expected be approximately 200,000, according to the report.

It is important to note that the 3 million to 6 million people who were uninsured in 2014 and hadn't signed up on the exchanges in 2015 may have gotten coverage in other ways, such as through a new job. HHS has not released an estimate on the number of individuals eligible to enroll during the extended sign-up period, according to the report.

Still, low special enrollment suggests the penalties may not have been effective, according to the report.

"A lot of [people] seem to be making calculations throughout the year what their premium would be versus this fine," Mike Perry, a partner at the polling firm PerryUndem, told The New York Times.

 

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