Studies Find Share Of Uninsured People Signing Up For Coverage Remains Low

But some signals point to a pattern that may be emerging that suggests more uninsured people have been looking for information about plan options or seeking to buy insurance through the online marketplaces in these final weeks of open enrollment.

The Washington Post: New Health Insurance Marketplaces Signing Up Few Uninsured Americans, Two Surveys Find
The new health insurance marketplaces appear to be making little headway in signing up Americans who lack insurance, the Affordable Care Act’s central goal, according to a pair of new surveys. Only one in 10 uninsured people who qualify for private plans through the new marketplaces enrolled as of last month, one of the surveys shows. The other found that about half of uninsured adults have looked for information on the online exchanges or planned to look (Goldstein, 3/6).

The Wall Street Journal: Number Of Uninsured Buying Coverage Under Health Law Is Rising
The number of previously uninsured consumers buying coverage under the health law has risen sharply in recent weeks, according to new research, a nascent signal of progress in the law's goal of reducing the ranks of the uninsured. The overall share of uninsured people gaining coverage remains low, but the trend suggests more people could get coverage as the enrollment period approaches its final weeks. Most people must pick health plans by the end of March (Weaver and Mathews, 3/6).

Fox News: ObamaCare Signing Up Few Uninsured Americans, Studies Show
ObamaCare appears to be making little progress in signing up uninsured Americans, one of the law's primary goals, according to two new surveys. Only one in 10 uninsured people who qualify for private plans through the new health insurance marketplaces enrolled as of last month, according to a survey by the consulting firm McKinsey & Co., The Washington Post reported on Thursday. The McKinsey survey found that only 27 percent of people who have selected a plan on the exchanges described themselves as having previously been without insurance (3/7).

Politico Pro: Study: More Obamacare Enrollees Were Uninsured
More people who were previously uninsured are signing up for health coverage as the country gets closer to the March 31 close of open enrollment, according to an updated enrollment snapshot by McKinsey & Company released Thursday. About 27 percent of those who bought a new plan this year said they had not been covered in a survey fielded from Feb. 4-13 and detailed Thursday at a conference of America’s Health Insurance Plans. While still only about a quarter of sign-ups, that compares with just 11 percent in surveys earlier in the enrollment period that the consulting firm conducted (Norman, 3/6).