Obamacare Signups Are Killing It

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.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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