Less than a half million people whose health insurance was canceled under President Barack Obama's new law have not yet found other coverage, the administration said Thursday.
However, officials said that figure could shrink in the coming days. Americans have until Dec. 23 to purchase insurance and ensure they have no gap in coverage if their current plans are among those that will be canceled at the end of the month.
The cancellations have become a nagging problem for the White House, compounding the widespread technology failures that marred the rollout of the nation's health care law.
That would be a travesty in and of itself, but the White House is likely severely underestimating that number. Only 300,000 Americans total, both previously-uninsured and those with canceled plans, have signed up for the Obamacare exchanges. Considering 800,000 people with insurance plans lost them in New Jersey alone, the Obama Administration seems to be trying to spin away some damage. Some estimates put the total number of canceled plans at 5 million nationwide - far short of total exchange signups.
Meanwhile, millions of Americans have had their policies cancelled. While hard data is hard to come by here, over 300,000 insurance policies were cancelled in Florida, nearly 800,000 policies were cancelled in New Jersey, and 300,000 in California. In contrast, up to this point, nearly 18,000 have "selected" a plan in Florida, 3,200 have "selected" a plan in New Jersey, and 107,000 have "selected" a plan in California.
The Obama Administration is admitting that hundreds of thousands of Americans whose plans they took away have not obtained insurance again. That would be bad enough, but it's likely the real number is much, much higher than that.