Dive Brief:
- A new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation has concluded that half of the uninsured intend to remain without health insurance.
- The poll, which reached out to more than 1,500 adults, found that 50% of those under the age of 65 who are currently uninsured plan to remain uninsured. (40% of the uninsured intend to sign up before the deadline, and 10% said they weren't sure what they would do regarding signing up for a health plan.)
- According to the poll, direct outreach techniques like phone calls, email, text messages or home visits didn't help much with enrollment. Only 11% of uninsured people said they had been contacted via one of these channels.
Dive Insight:
This is worthwhile information, but it doesn't get to the heart of the matter. The assumption all along seems to have been that if the uninsured are signing up for policies, it's largely because they don't want to spend money on a policy. What's gotten very little coverage in the press is the fact that there are many, many people who can't afford ACA policies and make "too much" money to get any form of subsidy. To make this reform work long-term, the exchanges have to offer subsidies to the the middle class too. Otherwise health reform will have left a very large block of people out in the cold.