Despite some rollout issues and GOP threats of hellfire, brimstone and three-headed babies, it looks like Obamacare's been pretty successful in New York State. State Health Department data shows that over 960,000 New Yorkers have enrolled, with 52 percent of enrollees hailing from NYC—statistics that the state considers a "tremendous success," though it doesn't look like Kathleen Sebelius is getting her job back.
The Affordable Care Act enrollment report [pdf], which was released by the Health Department yesterday, noted that about 370,604 individuals enrolled in private insurance programs, with 525,283 individuals enrolling in Medicaid and nearly 65,000 signing up for the Child Health Plus program. These numbers hedge close to the state's plan to enroll 1 million individuals by 2016.
The report also broke down the numbers by demographic, notably pointing out that 1 in 3 of the New Yorkers who signed up for Obamacare were under 35. This is significant, since health officials have been relying on younger Americans to enroll in order to lessen the premium burdens on those who require more extensive healthcare—the state had initially predicted that 40 percent of enrolled New Yorkers needed to be under 35. The Health Department also pointed out that 80 percent of those who enrolled claimed they were previously uninsured, though it's possible some individuals lost their insurance policies when Obamacare rolled out initially.
As for the NYC breakdown, Brooklyn has 159,000 enrollees; 151,000 enrollees came from Queens; Manhattan clocked in at 85,000 enrollees; The Bronx tallied 82,000 enrollees; and Staten Island trailed behind with 19,500 enrollees. Hrumphhrumph. Open enrollment is closed through mid-November.
