The person responding that he is uninsured at the time of the interview might have lost coverage yesterday, or many years ago. This is an important question for public policy, because the short-term uninsured are likely short-term unemployed: Fix the job market and you fix their health insurance. Those who have not had health insurance for a long time likely have a different challenge. Indeed, they may be eligible for Medicaid but not be enrolled. However, Obamacare is changing this. Its expensive outreach efforts are leading to more Medicaid enrollment than enrollment in subsidized, private Obamacare plans.Indeed, it looks like only 2.3 million people had signed up for subsidized Obamacare coverage through the end of June 2014, which is quite a comedown from HHS’ May estimate that 8.1 million people “selected” private coverage in exchanges.Some scholars are even looking for an increase in the number of uninsured due to Obamacare. The theory is that subsidies will not increase as fast as premiums, so people will let their coverage lapse. This will become more likely if people think their risk is limited because they are likely to get a job with benefits in a short time. So, the question of short-term versus long-term uninsured is very important. However, government agencies are confusing us on this issue.
via Reporting Changes in Uninsured Due to Obamacare: Government Agencies Can Be Clearer | Health Policy Blog | NCPA.org.
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