It’s worse than we thought.
Medicaid enrollment has soared since the Obamacare exchanges opened on October 1, 2013. In Maryland the number of new enrollees is more than 25 times the number of those who signed up for private coverage. 1.5 million have signed up for Medicaid so far.
The cost of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion will further burden state governments already struggling to afford the program.
Heritage
The Senior Journal reported:
States are reporting far higher enrollment in Medicaid than in private insurance since the Affordable Care Act exchanges opened Oct. 1. In Maryland, for example, the number of newly eligible Medicaid enrollees is more than 25 times the number of people signed up for private coverage.
Even some Medicaid experts say they are surprised at the early numbers.
A Stateline survey of the 25 expansion states and the District of Columbia provides clear explanations for the strong Medicaid rollout so far.
The biggest reason for the initial jump in Medicaid enrollment is that hundreds of thousands of people in the expansion states have been pre-qualified for expanded Medicaid because they are already enrolled in low-income state health care. Illinois, for example, will roll over 100,000 Cook County residents who have received expanded Medicaid benefits since 2011…
…Stateline’s survey indicates at least 1.5 million people have already signed up or have been pre-qualified for expanded Medicaid in the 19 states that provided counts. Expected total enrollment in those states is 3.7 million.