About that "Drastic" Enrollment Drop
The press only emphasizes news that harms Republicans...
This afternoon The Hill has a story claiming that the latest Exchange enrollment figures show a “noticeable drop,” leading with a headline that “Early [Obamacare] Numbers Show Drastic Drop in Enrollment.”
Indeed, enrollment did decline compared to year-ago numbers, with 22.8 million people signing up this year, compared to 23.6 million last year. That’s a decline of 800,000, or just under 3.4%. Which raises one obvious question: Would most Americans view a 3.4% decline as “drastic?” I doubt it.
More to the point, the first open enrollment report, released last month, showed that compared to the prior-year period, sign-ups had increased from just under 5.4 million in 2024-25 to nearly 5.8 million this time around. That was an increase of nearly 400,000, or nearly 7.3%.
All of which raises another obvious question: When the first enrollment numbers showed an increase in sign-ups more than twice as great as the recent decline, did The Hill call this enrollment increase “drastic?” For that matter, did The Hill and the rest of the mainstream press even report on the figures at all? I think we both know the answers to those questions.
Today’s article notes that it’s still early days regarding sign-ups, as some people who selected a plan may end up not paying their premiums to effectuate enrollment. But however it plays out, you can count on outlets like The Hill to be putting the most favorable Democratic spin on the numbers…