“a mere 27% of people joining the exchanges were previously uninsured through February”

The ObamaCare debacle continues. Recall that ObamaCare supporters said the massive government takeover was necessary in order for the uninsured to have affordable coverage. Uh, wrong, as the Wall Street Journal points out.

HHS revealed Tuesday that only 940,000 people signed up for an ObamaCare plan in February, bringing the total to about 4.2 million, well below the original 5.7 million projection. The predicted “surge” of young beneficiaries isn’t materializing even as the end-of-March deadline approaches, and enrollment decelerated in February.

Meanwhile, a McKinsey & Company survey reports that a mere 27% of people joining the exchanges were previously uninsured through February. The survey also found that about half of people who shopped for a plan but did not enroll said premiums were too expensive, even though 80% of this group qualify for subsidies. Some substantial share of the people ObamaCare is supposed to help say it is a bad financial value. You might even call it a hardship.

Yes, folks, ObamaCare is the debacle it was predicted to be, as JLF’s John Hood summarizes here.

What we are watching, in other words, is a slow-motion repeal and replacement of Obamacare. 

Here are the particulars. Among the major changes so far, the president has 1) repeatedly delayed the mandate that employers provide federally approved health insurance to their employees, 2) delayed the implementation of numerous provisions and regulators affecting specific classes of employers or individuals, 3) delayed the deadline for individuals to purchase federally approved health plans, and 4) allowed some individuals to receive federal tax credits for buying health plans outside the exchanges that do not meet federal guidelines. Meanwhile, the Obamacare exchanges are mostly populated by highly subsidized or previously insured people, not the relatively low-cost uninsured who were originally projected to form its core customer base.