WSJ: Vast, overwhelming, majority of ObamaCare 'enrollees' already had insurance

Depending on the source, there were anywhere between 21 and 50 million Americans who were uninsured before the President made his ascent to the White House. We were told that, in a country as wealthy as the United States, this was simply unacceptable. Insurance was too expensive, health care was too expensive, and Barack Obama was going to fix all that. The ACA was touted as the quickest, easiest, and best way to make sure every American had affordable insurance.

So, now that ObamaCare is in effect, the number of previously uninsured people who've signed up must be huge, right? Uh-oh.... From the Wall Street Journal:

Early signals suggest the majority of the 2.2 million people who sought to enroll in private insurance through new marketplaces through Dec. 28 were previously covered elsewhere, raising questions about how swiftly this part of the health overhaul will be able to make a significant dent in the number of uninsured.

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Insurers, brokers and consultants estimate at least two-thirds of those consumers previously bought their own coverage or were enrolled in employer-backed plans.

Remember: we know that the White House is overstating the numbers of enrollees and we still have no way of knowing how many have actually paid for anything. But, for now, lets just run with their numbers. Out of 2.2 million signups, two thirds already had insurance. That would mean that the disaster of ObamaCare has so far managed to enroll only about 730,000 first timers. Sure, that's terrible, but the fact is it's also a best-case scenario. Unfortunately, according to the WSJ's sources, for many insurers the system is nowhere near achieving even that dismal level of "success."

About 48 million Americans were uninsured in 2012. The health law is expected to cut 25 million from that total by expanding state-run Medicaid programs and the pool of privately insured people who buy through state marketplaces, also called exchanges. Only 11% of consumers who bought new coverage under the law were previously uninsured, according to a McKinsey & Co. survey of consumers thought to be eligible for the health-law marketplaces. The result is based on a sampling of 4,563 consumers performed between November and January, of whom 389 had enrolled in new insurance.

Democrats fought tooth and nail for a law that caused six million policy cancellations, only signed up 2.2 million, and - of those - as few as 11% are from the pool of people they claimed they were trying to save in the first place. Everyone else is either fined, shuffled into Medicaid (which doctors are abandoning in droves), or they're given the opportunity to "transition" to more expensive plans filled with coverage they don't need or want.

The data, based on surveys of enrollees, are preliminary. But insurers say the tally of newly insured consumers is falling short of their expectations, a worrying trend for an industry looking to the law to expand the ranks of its customers.

In other words, the insurance industry cut a deal with the devil. They helped sell the concept of ObamaCare, and in return they were supposed to be enjoying a vast new group of customers. What could possibly go wrong?

One reason for people declining to purchase plans was affordability, cited by 52% of those who had shopped for a new plan but not purchased one in McKinsey's most recent sampling, performed in January.

Congratulations, Dems.. The "unaffordability" of the "Affordable" Care Act is the number one reason no one is signing up. If the law is allowed to stay on the books, premiums and deductibles will skyrocket, the insurance industry will eventually be decimated. Basically, the "Affordable" Care Act will have done exactly what it was intended to do.