Obamacare sign ups surge, despite Trump’s declaration on ‘repeal’

The latest HealthCare.gov enrollment season closed with a surge of sign-ups, unexpectedly putting Obamacare enrollment on track to potentially match last year's figures despite the GOP's attacks on the health care law.

A total of 8.8 million individuals signed up for coverage through the Dec. 15 deadline in the 39 states relying on HealthCare.gov, according to Trump administration data released Thursday. And more than 2.5 million have so far enrolled through state-run insurance marketplaces, many of which are still allowing people to sign up over the new few weeks.

The robust enrollment pace defies President Donald Trump's insistence that Obamacare is "dead" and will likely make Republican efforts to dismantle the 2010 health care law even more challenging after failed repeal efforts this year.

Obamacare supporters say sign-ups far surpassed their expectations, given the ongoing repeal effort in Congress, the president’s harsh rhetoric against the law and a series of actions taken by his administration seen as undermining enrollment. The Trump administration halved this year's enrollment period to six weeks, slashed advertising by 90 percent and cut funding for in-person enrollment aides by more than 40 percent.

“In spite of all of their demagoguery, in spite of all of their attacks against the Affordable Care Act, record numbers are coming forward to enroll," said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) "That tells you something: It tells you that people want it."

Skyrocketing premiums this year — which insurers attributed to sicker-than-expected customers and uncertainty about Republican repeal efforts — likely deterred some potential customers, particularly those earning too much to qualify for financial assistance. But the strong sign-up figures demonstrate the power of federal health insurance subsidies, which the vast majority of customers on the Obamacare marketplaces receive.

New Obamacare customers accounted for 2.4 million of the HealthCare.gov enrollments — nearly 30 percent of the total. Just over 1 million new customers signed up in the final six days of the enrollment period, according to figures from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency overseeing the health care law.