OBAMACARNAGE (CONT.)

Ken Berwitz

About 12.7 million people enrolled in ObamaCare plans thisyear, which is almost 9 million fewer than had once been expected and 1.4million fewer than the upper boundary of its revised enrollment forecast. 

Nevertheless, Health and Human Services secretary SylviaBurwell declared the year “a success” and claimed that enrollment “exceeded ourexpectations.” 

At 12.7 million, total enrollment at the federal andstate-run ObamaCare exchanges has ended up in the middle of range of theadministration\’s sharply lowered enrollment forecast, which they said could beanywhere from 11 million to 14.1 million for 2016. The Congressional BudgetOffice had previously expected enrollment to hit 21 million this year.

All these numbers, it should be noted, are highly inflatedbecause they include people who haven\’t actually paid their first premiums.Last year, the 11.7 million who the administration claimed had “enrolled” dwindled down to about 9 million by the end of the year.

Aetna just this week warned that the ObamaCare exchangesappear “unsustainable,” and UnitedHealth Group said last fall that it mightbail on ObamaCare next year. Meanwhile, many of the biggest insurers providingcoverage through ObamaCare have been reporting losses, and more than half ofthe nonprofit insurance co-ops that ObamaCare created have already failed.

 “Most insurance companies are losing money today underObamacare because not enough healthy people have signed up. They were hopingthat the 2016 enrollment would change that. It has not,” noted industry analystRobert Laszewski.

 He says that the reason for the flat enrollment this year issimple: ObamaCare costs too much.