Letter: Figures disputed

To the editor:

The Obama administration and Health and Human Services are touting huge enrollment figures for the Affordable Care Act, but their math is misleading. Since HHS can’t even tell us how many enrollees actually paid a premium, it’s hard to tell who actually has insurance because their website wasn’t set up to collect the basic information about existing coverage, health status or age.

Increases in Medicaid enrollments mostly came from those already eligible, not from ACA.  Only 3.9 million enrolled through the exchanges (according to a RAND study). The rest were covered by employers. A further study by Express Scripts, a major player in the online prescription business, shows that the exchange enrollees were not the “young invincibles” but rather those requiring higher cost specialty drugs, which comprise only 1 percent of all U.S. prescriptions but account for 25 percent of the dollars spent on medications. Of those enrolling through the exchanges, 43 percent already had drug coverage; making the uninsured enrollment far less than even the 3.9 million. This means that the incoming enrollees require more medical attention, not less, and can only lead to rapid increases in premiums and deductibles.

Even though, some feel that increasing Medicaid enrollment is a positive thing, they ignore the limits on physician choice and services as well as the reality that federal money has to come from somewhere. It’s entirely possible that we will see even greater subsidies needed from Washington, as people have to cope with high premiums and deductibles. Don’t stand up and cheer just yet.