Obamacare signups are coming on like gangbusters:
Healthcare.gov enrollment has surged at least 47 percent higher than during the same period last year, CMS announced yesterday. Nearly 1.5 million Americans selected plans on Healthcare.gov in the first 11 days of the sign-up period — a shockingly high number that has surprised just about everyone, given that the administration whittled down the advertising budget touting the open enrollment window by 90 percent.
If you figure that signups on the state exchanges are also up 47 percent from last year, then about 3 million people have signed up so far. I know you’re itching to see this in chart form, so here it is through November 11:
Why are signups so far ahead of last year? No one knows. Maybe word of the shortened signup period was widespread, and lots of people are rushing to enroll quickly. Maybe months of trying to kill Obamacare acted as good advertising (in the “say anything you want, just spell my name right” sense). Maybe liberals are beating the bushes extra hard to sign people up.
The big question is whether this surge is enough to match last year’s enrollment even with the short signup period. It will be a while before we know that.
