The predicted implosion of Obamacare looks even less likely after the Trump administration released numbers Thursday showing that more than 600,000 Americans signed up for individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act in the first four days of this year's open enrollment period. Though insurers are cautioning that it’s still early to know whether enrollment will remain as brisk, those familiar with past signup patterns say the news is good. Andy Slavitt, the former head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the Obama years, said in a post on Twitter Thursday that sign-ups are up 179% compared to the equivalent period last year. CMS announced Thursday that 601,462 people selected plans on the HealthCare.gov platform in the first four days of open enrollment, which began Nov. 1 and runs to Dec. 15. The signups only include the 39 states using the healthcare.gov platform, which leaves out states like California where the state has its own exchange and Obamacare has been very popular. Some cautioned that those who are signing up early could be those in most need and may not be younger and healthier Americans who insurance companies need to sign up in order to balance risk pools. Insurers including Aetna, UnitedHealth Group and Humana have scaled back or left entirely the business of selling individual coverage on the ACA's public exchanges after being unable to manage costs of sick patients signing up for Obamacare policies.
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