Report: Obamacare State Exchanges Hit Just 3% of Target

While the Obama administration had been predicting doom and gloom for the enrollment numbers in exchanges across the country, even they had to be disappointed by the numbers revealed by state exchanges across the country. According to a report from Avalere Health, the 12 states with their own health insurance marketplaces have enrolled just 3 percent of the Obamacare target number.

Those exchanges have not been plagued with anywhere near the technical troubles that the federal Obamacare exchange website has. Avalere made the argument that the failures of the federal exchange had scared many people away from the state-based exchanges. But even Avalere President Dan Mendelson admitted that while they expected the sign-ups to be gradual, they were actually “weak.”

The Congressional Budget Office predicted that some seven million Americans would enroll in the Obamacare exchanges by the end of 2014. But the full number of enrollments in the 12 states without the federal exchange total just 49,100, and include Medicaid signups. In Kentucky, for example, the vast bulk of those who signed up for the state-based exchange did so to enroll in Medicaid, which is free.