It's looking like Trump's Obamacare meddling could cause serious problems for the healthcare market

pulse

December 6, 2017 10:21 PM

Sign ups for Obamacare are nearly 600,000 above their pace from last year, but there's still a big issue looming in the marketplace.

Enrollment on the federally run Affordable Care Act exchanges is outpacing 2016.
But it's projected to fall short overall because of a shorter time window for people to enroll.
Other actions from the Trump administration will likely lead to fewer Americans signing up for coverage.
Experts say this will likely lead to higher insurance premiums.

Sign-ups for next year on the federally run Affordable Care Act insurance markets are crushing their pace from last year. But darker clouds loom on the horizon.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS),

It seems pretty clear at this point that the combination of a shorter sign-up period and massive reductions in outreach will lead to lower enrollment and more people uninsured," Levitt told Business Insider.

Obamacare markets could see big problems

Levitt hinted at another reason experts say there has been a drop in enrollments. The Trump administration cut its advertising budget by around 90%. Money to in-person navigators, who help people find plans, dropped by just over 40%.

Matthew Fiedler, a fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for Health Policy, said there are a lot of reasons for the enrollment drop-off — but not one that stands out above others.

Fiedler said that the decrease in enrollment will likely be detrimental to people enrolled on the exchanges.

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