There was some happy talk from officials after new Obamacare enrollment numbers were released, but a deeper look reveals problems.

Naomi Lopez Bauman is Director of Health Policy for the Illinois Policy Institute. She points out a massive flaw in the data collection that impact not just Illinois, but numbers across the nation as well:

Instead of reporting on actual plan enrollments, the administration defines “enrollments” as individuals and families who have placed a plan in their shopping cart, but have not necessarily purchased a plan. The distinction is critical. As anyone who has ever shopped online knows, putting something in your shopping cart is not the same as actually purchasing it.

Lopez Bauman also points out that enrollment numbers in the Land of Lincoln are losing momentum:

Courtesy: Illinois Policy Institute
Courtesy: Illinois Policy Institute
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A particular issue that's cropped up around the country is the low percentage of young adults in the insurance "risk pools":

The “young invincibles,” ages 18 to 34, make up just less than one-quarter of the “enrollments.” That is far short of the 38 percent target the administration needs to balance out the older and sicker patients in the insurance risk pool. Because of this, health insurance premiums in the ObamaCare exchanges will likely skyrocket well above this year’s levels.

Speaking of youth enrollment, our friends at Eyewitness News filed this report about the turnout at a Marketplace Enrollment Day event in Boone County:

Might they have missed an avalanche of young adults who arrived just after they left the location?  Anything's possible. But it seems more likely it's the latest example of the difficulty in persuading the youth to sign up for Obamacare.

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