HHS stonewalls on King v. Burwell, releases sign-up numbers

HHS on Wednesday was trumpeting that 10 million individuals have signed up for healthcare coverage even as senior officials refused to address "what if" scenarios should the Supreme Court rule against HealthCare.gov insurance subsidies in the King v. Burwell case.

Republican senators Wednesday grilled HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell during a hearing before the Finance Committee about whether the Obama administration had a contingency plan if the court strikes down subsidies. Burwell repeatedly refused to answer, causing Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the Senate majority whip, to accuse her of treating the committee with contempt.

“Sec. Burwell is a charming person, and she's obviously intelligent, but these hearings are absolutely no use to us if the witnesses refuse to answer straight-forward questions, which this witness has repeatedly done” Cornyn said.

HHS officials insisted that they are solely focused on the final days of the open-enrollment period, which ends Feb. 15, and the anticipated surge of customers. “We're prepared for it,” said Kevin Counihan, CEO of the federal marketplace. “Our system is stable.”

“Millions of Americans are counting on the Affordable Care Act,” Burwell said on a call with reporters Wednesday. “It's part of the fabric of their lives.”

Outreach workers across the country are increasing enrollment events and expanding hours to facilitate as many sign-ups as possible. Staffing at the federal call center will increase from 10,000 to 14,000 workers starting Monday, according to HHS.

“We're going to be working very long hours,” Jodi Ray, project director for Florida Covering Kids & Families, said on a call with reporters.

HHS announced that 10 million have signed up through the state and federal exchanges. That total includes 7.5 million sign-ups in the 37 states that are relying on HealthCare.gov for enrollments and at least 2.4 million in the state-based exchanges.

Prior to the start of the second open-enrollment period under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care, HHS set a goal of 9.1 million enrollments. While sign-ups have already surpassed that figure, there will be attrition throughout the year as exchange customers either fail to make their premiums payments or drop out of coverage. The Congressional Budget Office has projected 12 million enrollment for 2015.

Last year, HHS initially reported more than 8 million sign-ups during the open-enrollment period. But that figure eroded to roughly 6.7 million by October.

During the week that ended Jan. 30, HHS reported nearly 180,000 enrollments through the federal marketplace. That was up from 137,000 enrollments during the prior week, a spike of more than 30%.

Florida continues to have the highest volume of enrollments among the states relying on the federal exchange. More than 1.3 million individuals had signed up for 2015 coverage by the end of January. That includes both new customers and those re-enrolling in coverage for this year. By comparison, Texas had less than 1 million enrollments, despite have roughly 7 million more residents.

CMS also released enrollment breakdowns for major metropolitan areas for the first time. The highest volume of sign-ups in the country has been in the Miami-Fort-Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area, with nearly 650,000 enrollments through Jan. 30.

A Supreme Court decision that strikes down subsidies for individuals who bought insurance through Healthcare.gov could result in 8.2 million low- and middle-income individuals in 34 states losing access to subsidies worth $28.2 billion, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute. Those beneficiaries are disproportionately located in conservative states that haven't embraced the federal healthcare law.

Follow Paul Demko on Twitter: @MHpdemko