Obamacare enrollment up in Maryland, despite uncertainty

Amid uncertainty about the future of the national health care law, record numbers of Marylanders signed up for coverage this year, according to figures released by the state Wednesday.

In what could be the final enrollment period of the Affordable Care Act, nearly 432,000 Maryland residents signed up for the law's various offerings, up 7.5 percent over last year.

All of that growth came from new Medicaid participants. The number of people buying into private plans declined 3 percent.

Fewer people nationally signed up for coverage this year through HealthCare.gov, according to data from a preliminary government report Friday.

About 9.2 million people signed up through HealthCare.gov, the insurance marketplace serving most states, said the Health and Human Services department. That's about 500,000 fewer customers than had enrolled last year in those same 39 states, or slippage of around 5 percent.

As President Donald Trump moves to repeal President Barack Obama's signature health care legislation, Republicans are eager to do away with the law but are divided over what to do about the millions of Americans who are now benefiting from it.

Democrats and other supporters will argue that any increase in enrollment shows that Obamacare has been effective, despite years of sustained criticism.

"These numbers show there's a continued demand for affordable health care in Maryland and other places," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who supported the health care law as a member of the House of Representatives. "It also shows that repealing the Affordable Care Act will create havoc throughout the health industry and on people's lives."

Still, prior enrollment increases have done little to quiet the constant political opposition since Democrats passed the law in 2010. Trump was clear throughout his campaign that repealing the Affordable Care Act would be a top priority. He won the election, and voters kept Republicans in control of Congress to help him carry out the goal.

Rep. Andy Harris, a physician who ran for election in 2010 on a promise to fight the law, said it never lived up to Obama's sales pitch.

"Obamacare has failed to live up to most of the promises made, such as 'If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor' and 'If you like your plan, you can keep your plan,' " the Baltimore County Republican said.

GOP lawmakers are now in a political bind: They are under pressure from the right to make good on long-standing promises to repeal the law, but they are concerned that a sudden move could have unpopular repercussions in a complicated insurance market.

Enrollment in Maryland grew by about 30,000 people to just under 432,000, the Maryland health exchange reported.

The number signing up for private plans dropped slightly to about 158,000. But more people qualified for an expansion of Medicaid, pushing the total on those rolls to 274,000.

That will further reduce the rate of uninsured in the state, which had already declined from 10 percent in 2012 to 6.7 percent in 2015.

Maintaining coverage for those families will be difficult without continued federal funding. State legislative analysts have said repeal of the health law would cost Maryland nearly $2 billion in Medicaid funding alone.

meredith.cohn@baltsun.com

john.fritze@baltsun.com

Credit: By Meredith Cohn ;and John Fritze - The Baltimore Sun