After years of steady growth Obamacare’s sign-ups slumped in 2017, according to early numbers that suggest the law is struggling now that President Obama is no longer in office to give it a boost.
The number of people selecting plans on the federal HealthCare.gov website dropped 4 percent this go-around compared to the 2016 season, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said.
Democrats immediately blamed President Trump for sabotaging the law, saying sign-ups had been running ahead of schedule while Mr. Obama was overseeing things, but enthusiasm appeared to wane in the final days before the Jan. 31 sign-up deadline, after Mr. Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.
The new administration said the health care law itself was to blame, as customers faced double-digit premium hikes and fewer choices on the web-based insurance exchanges.
“Obamacare has failed the American people, with one broken promise after another,” Health and Human Services Department spokesman Matt Lloyd said, in a sharp break in tone from an Obama administration that promoted the law for seven years.
Policy analysts said HealthCare.gov’s tally of 9.2 million customers for 2017 reflected a law that is still struggling to attract enough customers to put it on firm economic footing, though not unraveling, as its critics claim.
“Sign-ups are falling somewhat short of last year, which is movement in the wrong direction for improving the risk pool but hardly a collapse,” said Larry Levitt, a senior vice president at the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
Mr. Trump wants to repeal and replace Obamacare, with the assistance of Republicans who control Congress.
He said in an interview with Fox News that aired before Sunday’s Super Bowl that the rollout of a new health care plan is “in the process, and maybe it’ll take until some time into next year.”
He said the solution is “very complicated.”
“We are putting in a wonderful plan; statutorily, it takes a while to get,” Mr. Trump said. “We’re going to be putting it in fairly soon. I would like to say by the end of the year, at least the rudiments, but we should have something within the year, and the following year.”
The GOP says the American people are demanding “relief” from a law that’s become unaffordable, even as the government mandates people to hold coverage or pay a tax.
Democrats argue the law can be fixed through more generous taxpayer-funded subsidies or a government-run, “public option” plan that would compete with private ones in the marketplace.
Yet congressional Republicans said those ideas would further entrench an unworkable program. The HealthCare.gov sign-up numbers will droop further, they added, because some customers will not effectuate their coverage by paying their first month’s bill.
“Not only have today’s numbers failed to keep pace with last year’s, they also fail to account for those individuals who will actually follow through and pay the premiums,” said Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, Utah Republican.
“Whether families can and will pay the 25 percent average increase over last year for benchmark plans remains in question. Either way, enrollment numbers are down and costs are up. These cost hikes are exactly the reason why Republicans are committed to repealing and replacing Obamacare.”
Friday’s update did not include sign-up totals from a dozen state-run exchanges, though available data suggests at least 12 million people selected plans. Unless the remaining states report a robust finish, the law will not reach Mr. Obama’s target of 13.8 million sign-ups for this year.
Obamacare’s supporters viewed the federal tally as a testament to the law’s staying power in the face of a tough political climate.
In the first few hours of his presidency, Mr. Trump signed an executive order Jan. 20 requiring agencies to lift the “economic burden” of the law’s taxes and regulations, where possible.
His administration then pulled up to $5 million in radio and TV advertising for HealthCare.gov a few days before the Jan. 31 cutoff, labeling it a cost-cutting measure.
Ben Wakana, a spokesman for the Health and Human Services Department under Mr. Obama, said “the Trump Administration’s efforts to suppress enrollment clearly had an impact.”
There were roughly 375,000 in the final two weeks of 2017 enrollment compared to roughly 700,000 in the last week of last year’s effort.
“When President Obama left office, enrollment was outpacing last year,” Mr. Wakana said. “Since taking office, the new administration deliberately sabotaged the law: pulled down advertising, threatened outreach efforts, and sewed uncertainty about consumer protections.”
• Dave Boyer contributed to this report.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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