ObamaCare faces critical test in 2015

Another ObamaCare deadline approaches. This time, we have been spared the encouragement of Richard Simmons appearances and pub crawls that were designed to draw customers during the last enrollment period. And yes, the website is reportedly functioning well. But a more quiet approach to this enrollment period could prove to be yet another mistake in the short but storied history of the embattled Affordable Care Act (ACA).

{mosads}Next year, the ACA faces a critical test — retaining previous customers, as well as signing up new ones. Enrollment projections for 2014 weren’t met and the administration is now hoping to increase participation by more than 30 percent in 2015, a very high number. The estimate is also ambitious because people are discovering how labor intensive the program is. Participants are being encouraged to reenroll with new policies to avoid rate hikes, with those just having turned 21 years of ago facing potential increases of 58 percent. While it’s great news that more insurers are joining the exchanges and offering new and competitive rates, who is going to know or follow through to change plans now, during the holidays, particularly 21-year-olds? While subsidies will also increase, reenrollment is required to receive the new subsidy rate. It’s simply not user friendly and year two will be a natural time for drop-off. All that aside, of course, the law faces elimination should the Supreme Court rule next summer that the subsidies paid to consumers in states relying on federal exchanges (37 of them) are illegal.

An affirmative ruling and several million more enrollees would truly stabilize the ACA, but if not, it will remain in the fragile state it has been in since its inception.

WISHING YOU A PEACEFUL HOLIDAY AND A HAPPY, HEALTHY 2015! Thank you for reading and watching in 2014, and for all your letters. AskAB returns the first week in January. Please keep your questions and comments coming to askab@digital-staging.thehill.com. Thank you.