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More ObamaCare Marketplace Customers in GOP Districts

According to some nifty clickable maps by the Kaiser Family Foundation, South Dakota had 24,600 enrollees in the Affordable Care Act Marketplace in 2016. That’s a few thousand more than are enrolled in any Congressional district in Minnesota, but far fewer than Montana with 51,800 enrollees and each of Idaho’s Congressional districts with over 47,000 each.

Kaiser finds that more ACA Marketplace enrollees live in Republican Congressional districts:

"Number of People Enrolled in Affordable Care Act Marketplaces in 2016, by Congressional District," Kaiser Family Foundation, Jan 2017. Click for interactive map at KFF.org!
“Number of People Enrolled in Affordable Care Act Marketplaces in 2016, by Congressional District,” Kaiser Family Foundation, Jan 2017. Click for interactive map at KFF.org!

Of the 11.5 million Marketplace enrollees nationally, 6.3 million live in Republican districts and 5.2 million live in Democratic districts. Marketplace enrollees per Republican district range from 10,200 enrollees in West Virginia’s District 3 to 96,300 enrollees in Florida’s District 27, with a median of 24,300 enrollees per district. Marketplace enrollees per Democratic district range from 5,200 enrollees in Hawaii’s District 1 to 94,100 enrollees in Florida’s District 10, with a median of 23,600 enrollees per district. The ten congressional districts with the highest number of Marketplace enrollees are all in Florida. There are 17 congressional districts (8 Republican districts and 9 Democratic districts) with over 50,000 enrollees, located in the following states: Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, and Montana [“Interactive Maps: Estimates of Enrollment in ACA Marketplaces and Medicaid Expansion,” Kaiser Family Foundation, January 2017].

Hmm… Rep. Noem, House Republicans, it appears you have even more constituents using insurance sold via ObamaCare than your Democratic colleagues. Do you really want to take that insurance away right now, the way your President-Elect seems to be demanding?

59 Comments

  1. Wayne B. 2017-01-12 07:44

    Shouldn’t this be filed under “well duh” ?

    The GOP controls a majority of House seats, and therefore districts.
    241 GOP seats = 55.4% of the districts

    Kaiser says 54.8% of the ACA Marketplace people live in those districts.

    Not surprising.

  2. Jenny 2017-01-12 08:01

    96% of Minnesotans now have healthcare coverage, the highest in state history, because of the ACA. Over 103,000 Minnesotans have enrolled in private plans in this year’s enrollment period which started in Nov. MNSure representatives were surprised and had estimated 85,000 to enroll.

    Repealing the ACA will cause major protesting in the country, I will guarantee that. People want healthcare coverage.

  3. Rorschach 2017-01-12 08:39

    It’s easy to vote 60 times to repeal Obamacare when you know your irresponsible bill will be vetoed. That’s called posturing. Now that the GOP Party has the actual power to repeal Obamacare it doesn’t want to be saddled with the consequences of another irresponsible vote that would effectively throw millions of Americans off of their health insurance plans.

    Perhaps a bipartisan solution could have been reached if instead of irresponsible posturing with an eye on the next election(s) the GOP Party had worked with the Obama administration and congressional Democrats to find common ground. We have long since reached the point where getting an advantage over the other team is more important in congress than good public policy. Electing posturers like Noem to congress brings us the dysfunction that people of all parties hate. Still we can’t help but do it again every two years.

  4. Greg Deplorable 2017-01-12 09:46

    Amazing what you can do with penalties and IRS enforcement.

  5. Jenny 2017-01-12 09:56

    And I know people that choose not to get coverage and voluntarily pay the penalty, Greg. Sad, isn’t it.

  6. jerry 2017-01-12 09:59

    Watch the market. Stocks are down. “The battered health-care sector continued to fall, building on sharp losses from Wednesday, when a comment from Trump on pharma companies “getting away with murder” hit biotech stocks IBB, -0.67%” Wait until they pull the rug out.

  7. jerry 2017-01-12 10:04

    Insurance agents that deal with health will find themselves out of a job very soon. So that will add more misery. Rounds, may have to get another EB5 thingy going to make up for lost revenue. If you know a different language, now would be the time to check out how to market medical tourism to those countries that actually have healthcare.

  8. Rorschach 2017-01-12 10:26

    Back in 2006 George W. Bush wanted to contract with the government of Dubai to manage port security for 6 major US ports.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai_Ports_World_controversy

    Maybe we should contract with Canada to design and run a universal healthcare program for the US.

  9. moses6 2017-01-12 10:32

    Did rounds and Thune vote last night to take people off their health care. pre existing conditins and kids not being able to stay on their parents insurance.

  10. jerry 2017-01-12 10:41

    Mexico already has a wonderful legal pharmaceutical industry as well as some of the best dental clinics anywhere in the world. The dental clinics are close to the border (get there fast or you will have to use a ladder to go over). English is spoken there, so you have that going for ya. The cost savings will make it so you can actually spend a few days there on your savings.

    In Canada, just like the United States, there are places where there is top notch coverage and places where the healthcare is not so good. http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/toronto-doctor-who-gave-u-s-senator-a-lesson-on-healthcare-outlines-her-6-big-ideas-for-canada-1.3236524

    But Canada, has a system that cares for its people, all of them.

  11. o 2017-01-12 11:07

    Health care will be the first battleground where we have to answer the question: Is corporate profit the only driver for policy? That is the heart of all regulation debate. That is the heart of the ACA debate.

  12. jerry 2017-01-12 11:12

    Watch Medicare rates and changes as well. This is not only for the 65 and under crowd, this is for everyone. The billion dollars that Obamacare saved Medicare, will be roaring back.

  13. Greg Deplorable 2017-01-12 11:39

    “And I know people that choose not to get coverage and voluntarily pay the penalty, Greg. Sad, isn’t it.”

    If that is their choice so be it. I’m all for freedom.

  14. o 2017-01-12 11:44

    Jerry, I thought Congress legally prohibited us from knowing that the ACA saved us money and that its repeal would carry actual, dollar costs.

  15. Porter Lansing 2017-01-12 11:48

    Obamacare is gone. A pox be on the future political ambitions of those who murdered it in it’s adolescence.

  16. moses6 2017-01-12 12:29

    Just put us all on slick mikes health care and photo ops, privatize social security and put uso n the congrsesional plan,At age 62 with one six year term you will get 16000 a year for life,Fatcheck.org.

  17. Porter Lansing 2017-01-12 13:46

    Deplorable … What you call freedom is selfishness and greed. It’s about “free” all right. It’s about “free riders” going to the ER with no insurance, not paying their bill and making everyone’s insurance cost more. Not having insurance is a burden on every other American citizen and their fines should be high enough to make buying insurance a better deal than mooching off society’s compassion for sick people (i.e. not letting people die in the streets because they’re selfish).

  18. jerry 2017-01-12 14:12

    Porter, Mr. Deplorable is just scared. He knows that he is gonna loose too as we all are. The problems is with Mr. Deplorable he thinks there is a difference between Obamacare and the ACA. You see, he has the ACA so he thinks he is good. http://fortune.com/2016/06/21/us-health-care-costs/ Meanwhile, tax and spend republicans just cannot help themselves.

  19. Douglas Wiken 2017-01-12 15:27

    Porter Lansing hits the GOP nail in their coffin very squarely.

    But, the GOP party is not tax and spend, it is borrow and squander.

  20. Greg Deplorable 2017-01-12 17:24

    Porter & the rest of you need to lay off the weed. 1000 plus seats lost since ’08 and you guys act like people are demanding to keep Obamacare.

    Here are some gems that really delivered.

    “If you like your health plan you’ll be able to keep it”
    “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period.”
    “Premiums will be lowered by an average of $2,500 per year.”
    “Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase.”
    “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits—either now or in the future.”

  21. caheidelberger Post author | 2017-01-12 17:35

    Hey, Moses! Senator John McCain said on the radio this afternoon that no one last night actually voted on anything, since it was all amendments to a symbolic resolution and not legislation that does anything.

  22. Jenny 2017-01-12 17:46

    http://www.startribune.com/gop-health-plan-passes-in-minnesota-senate-with-house-vote-to-follow/410558565/

    Actually, the GOP controlled Senate in MN is actually working with Gov Dayton and are working to lower MNSure premiums, Greg. Instead of bawling and whining about Obamacare, I give credit to MN GOP state legislators. MN that don’t quality for Medicaid but can’t afford the rising premiums on their own will be given rebates. Gov Dayton will sign this to give relief to Minnesotans.
    Meanwhile the SD GOP controlled legislature will be passing gun and potty bills.

  23. Jenny 2017-01-12 17:51

    123,00 Minnesotans that don’t qualify for federal plans and buy their insurance from the exchange will get up to a 25% rebate check. The money will come from the state reserves.

  24. Dana P 2017-01-12 17:52

    Here is a HUGE gem, Greg D. The GOP loves to squawk squawk squawk about raising premiums and so forth.

    Where WAS the GOP, pre-ACA/Obamacare when:

    – People were getting denied insurance due to pre-existing condition
    – People “ran out” of insurance due to caps
    – Premiums were already rising (at a bigger rate than they are now)
    – If Americans COULD get insurance, the policies were crap (mine was $200/month – $15k deductible, and what it would cover wasn’t much
    – Many people that didn’t have healthcare would go to ER for treatment, not pay bill, and taxpayers would pick up the tab

    Where WAS the GOP then? Take your time……I’ll wait (insert cricket sounds because that is where they were. They didn’t care. They just didn’t. )

    Bonus question – why didn’t GOP work on tweaking issues with ACA/Obamacare (that would have taken care of some of your “gems”) instead of playing with healthcare like a political football?

  25. Porter Lansing 2017-01-12 17:57

    @Greg the Stoner
    1. I liked my policy and I kept it. Furthermore, EVERY policy has always been renewed every year, with new addendums, if necessary.
    2. I have the same doctor I’ve had for 24 years.
    3. In 2016 premiums in South Dakota grew at the same pace as the national rate, families on average are spending $1,400/year less on health insurance than they would have if pre-ACA rate increases were still in force.
    4. Obamacare resulted in no tax increases, instead lowered the deficit.
    5. Only stoners accuse others of using drugs. It’s a way of hiding in plain sight.

  26. Jenny 2017-01-12 18:01

    Imagine that, a state govt that works FOR the people. You should try it, SD.

  27. bearcreekbat 2017-01-12 18:48

    Porter, your observation that “only stoners accuse others of using drugs” describes the Trumpist philosophy in a nutshell.

  28. bearcreekbat 2017-01-12 18:52

    I am sorry, “philosophy” is not the correct term, rather, the term should be “tactic.” And the question is, how many people, and for how long, will succumb to this “projection” type of tactical maneuver?

  29. jerry 2017-01-12 20:15

    Don will not make it for two years. He will be out the door with the boot of approval from all of the American people.

  30. Richard Schriever 2017-01-12 21:40

    Greg – you don’t really get how the financial markets all work together and play off one another – do you? People with money to invest are so reluctant to invest in Treasury bonds, municipal bonds and so on that there is a lot of money free to seek slightly more lucrative resting spots. I.E., if investors were enthusiastic about how the government is going to be managed under Trump, they’d be outing money into the bond markets – not stocks. That investment would spur an increase in the value of the dollar. Goo check out what’s happening to the value of the dollar asstocks are “surging”. As stocks rise and the value of the dollar falls, the increase in stock PRICES really reflects NO increase in VALUE of those stocks relative to what their relative value is. I.E., it’s a wash. But OoOOOohhhh – look at the HUGE shiny numbers!!!

  31. jerry 2017-01-12 22:38

    Greg D. is typical, don’t much biology, don’t know much about science books. They only know how to whine. Wait until they get the bill. It is not individual health policies only, this is about group health plans as well. “If you receive your healthcare policy from your employer, you’re receiving an average of around $1,730 per year in tax subsidies, or around $144 per month.” Amazing the lack of knowledge these folks have on their safety nets.

    ” U.S. taxpayers will fork over $660 billion this year to subsidize health insurance for people under 65, the vast majority of whom have coverage through their employers, the Congressional Budget Office said on Thursday.” http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2016/03/25/403037.htm

  32. Darin Larson 2017-01-12 22:46

    Cory, you need to listen to what Rep. King from Iowa said about the ACA and repeal and replace today on NPR. He wants to kick everybody off of Obamacare as soon as possible. He has no sympathy for people with preexisting conditions as they should have gotten coverage before they got sick. He basically claimed that people don’t have a right to healthcare in the richest country on earth. He almost rejoiced at the prospect of 10-20 million people losing health insurance and he thinks Trump should not have promised that folks were not going to lose their healthcare. Rep. King is a piece of work.

  33. jerry 2017-01-12 22:47

    Biggest surge since 1980? Hell ya. What happened then? “The Dow dropped 16 percent, from a high of 903.84 on February 13, 1980, to a low of 759.13 on April 21, 1980. The Federal Reserve, under Paul Volcker, lowered the Fed funds rate to 8.5 percent in response. The Dow rose to 1,004.32 on April 28, 1981. But the Fed then raised rates to combat inflation, which reduced business spending. By August 12, 1982, the Dow had dropped 22.6 percent, to 776.92.”

    Does history repeat itself? “The Dow’s November streak came after falling 638 points, or 3.4 percent, in futures trading as investors initially reacted to Trump’s unexpected Presidential win on November 8.”

    Now, where the hell are those jobs jobs jobs? I don’t hear anything more about them.

  34. Roger Cornelius 2017-01-12 23:01

    Paul Ryan said on a CNN town hall tonight that the GOP has a Obamacare replacement ready to go. He didn’t say how long or how the process will work.
    If Ryan already has a plan, why won’t he share it with Americans.
    Frankly, I don’t believe they ever had a plan or even want one.

  35. jerry 2017-01-12 23:09

    The House went red due to the ACA, no doubt about it. So when NOem cuts the throat of the ACA she and that slime ball from Iowa might just do the country a solid. We win back the House, impeach the pretender and start to Make America Sane Again. First order of beeswax, Save Medicare by making it for all, Save Social Security by expanding it. From the Washington Post:
    “House Republican leaders attempted to quell concerns of a skittish rank and file before a key vote Friday to begin unwinding the Affordable Care Act.

    The assurances came after lawmakers across the GOP’s ideological divides sounded anxious notes this week about advancing legislation that would repeal Obamacare without firm plans for its replacement.

    “We just want more specifics,” Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said Wednesday. “We need to know what we’re going to replace it with.” Meadows said he was personally undecided on his vote Friday and that other caucus members were leaning toward no.
    Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), chairman of the moderate Tuesday Group, said members of that caucus have “serious reservations” about starting the process without replacement plans spelled out. “We’d like to have this conversation prior to the repeal vote,” he said.

    Those jitters hint at a rocky road ahead as Republicans start trying to fulfill a long-standing campaign promise. They have forced GOP leaders to reassure lawmakers that they will not move precipitously and open Republicans to charges they threw the health-care system into chaos.”

    “We may loose, but we may win, but we will never be here again” leslie posted an interesting one about Daschle and how things were before Thune. We were blue or at least we voted blue. The reds came and scorched the place. NOem will make it blue once again and she will kick her own can away from Pierre because of this.

  36. Porter Lansing 2017-01-13 10:57

    Did y’all notice how Greg D. jumped from Obamacare to the stock market once his argument was disassembled? That’s a “tactic” and symptom of meth use (i.e. lack of cohesion to a subject).

  37. jerry 2017-01-13 16:45

    Why are we not speaking of the jobs? The huuuuge job market Don is gonna give us will make $15.00 and hour its cornerstone. $31,200.00 per year will guarantee that employees will not only be able to afford their own healthcare, but continue to have employers depend on the government subsidies they have received since before the ACA was initiated. All we need know is when do we start those jobs. When do the jobs start appearing? Not the ones Obama created, but Don’s new stuff.

  38. jerry 2017-01-13 17:12

    The whole world now knows that in this country, the second most powerful man would have to sell his own home to pay for his son’s cancer care. That is what the world sees behind the glitter of bright lights. They see us as what we are, careless and clueless of what might have been. Now we allow morally corrupt politicos like NOem to steal what little hope of a second chance on life for her own greedy pockets. Shame on her.

  39. leslie 2017-01-13 20:36

    https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/why-did-buzzfeed-publish-the-trump-dossier/512771/

    oh, sorry, didn’t want anyone to know anything about trump!

    Here’s what Republicans voted for Wednesday night— $7 million for each of the 400 richest tax-payers By Joan McCarter
    Thursday Jan 12, 2017

    “…eliminating the tax-and-spending provisions of the Affordable Care Act by simple majority vote… means repeal of two provisions targeted at high-income households: a 0.9 percent hospital insurance tax on earnings above $250,000 for couples and a 3.8 percent tax on capital gains, dividends and other nonlabor income above that same threshold.

    That would provide a tax cut averaging $7 million for each of the 400 highest-earning taxpayers, according to new calculations by the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities using Internal Revenue Service data.

    That cut, the center estimated, would amount to $2.8 billion annually overall — or approximately the value of Obamacare subsidies for those with modest incomes in the 20 smallest states and the District of Columbia.” http://www.dailykos.com

    SD is one of those.

  40. leslie 2017-01-13 20:40

    Paul Ryan and John Thune are talking about how ACA is a complete failure. 400 hospitals have written congress saying that it is not. What is truth in this nation about 1/4 of our natl budget, health care?? wow

  41. jerry 2017-01-13 20:45

    Obamacare is republican, simple stuff . This is the same plan that Bob Dole trotted out to beat Hillary with, this is a republican plan. This is the same plan that Mitt Romney put into place in Massachusetts with full approval of President George W. Bush, and then disowned it because of the Black dude that decided he was republican enough to get it passed. There is no difference. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-simple-brutal-explanation-of-the-gop-obamacare-repeal_us_587953e5e4b09cbcc8e9fc97

  42. jerry 2017-01-13 20:48

    9 trillion in new debt, thanks NOem. How in the world are ya gonna get 9.6% growth out of a new 9 trillion debt load? Only in a vacuum mind can you come up with that. And she wants to run South Dakota? Yikes!!

  43. leslie 2017-01-13 21:59

    Assuming Congress uses the most recent ACA repeal bill, H.R. 3762, the loss of coverage would have a net negative impact on hospitals of $165.8 billion from 2018 to 2026. If the ACA’s Medicare reductions are maintained, hospitals will suffer additional losses of $289.5 billion from reductions in their inflation updates, according to a report prepared by healthcare economics firm Dobson DaVanzo & Associates on behalf of the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals. http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20161206/NEWS/161209953

  44. jerry 2017-01-13 22:02

    @leslie, They will own this completely. That is the last thing in the world they want. What I like about all of this is the exposure that NOem is getting. She can wear that negative stuff until South Dakota turns as blue as the one you posted on Daschle. The person who runs against her will surely bring this up. Jackley may be a lot of things, but he can see weakness and this is NOem’s. She would gamble 9 trillion in debt because she is a racist that hates Obama.

  45. leslie 2017-01-13 22:08

    thx jerry. agreed.

    Kasich and Snyder aren’t the only Republican governors who run states that have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Nor are they the only ones who have warned about the potential losses in coverage or budgetary holes that might come if the law is repealed. GOP Govs. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas and Brian Sandoval of Nevada have offered similar concerns. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gop-governors-obamacare_us_58792687e4b09281d0eab57d

  46. leslie 2017-01-13 22:20

    Kasich and Snyder aren’t the only Republican governors who run states that have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Nor are they the only ones who have warned about the potential losses in coverage or budgetary holes that might come if the law is repealed. GOP Govs. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas and Brian Sandoval of Nevada have offered similar concerns. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gop-governors-obamacare_us_58792687e4b09281d0eab57d

    oh, and here is ted cruz, supporting jeff sessions in committee, his litany complaining about all of democrats lawbreaking…we could take him on on each one, @ 3:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p-8MLGHh7g

  47. o 2017-01-14 15:12

    Darin, “He basically claimed that people don’t have a right to healthcare in the richest country on earth.” Isn’t that the crux of American health care – that it is not a right but a commodity and as such fair game for profit? The easiest way to make profit is limit access for the sick people and and keep only healthy people who will not access – but still pay. That is good for profit and bad public policy. It is clear which side the GOP has landed on: profit not public policy.

  48. o 2017-01-14 15:25

    Jerry, I agree. That the “first step to appealing Obamacare” was to OK the $9,000,000,000,000.00 in new debt it will cost to repeal was a headline that got buried. I got the press release from our Representative that said she had voted for the first step to repeal – NOT what that first step actually was. I believe nine Republicans broke ranks to vote against this (with all the Democrats). So much for the deficit hawks.

    I believe more Republicans will break ranks as a full repeal gets closer when it is fully realized that actual individuals and a national budget hang in the balance. Then we will see spin of a level never seen before – why the ACA (and it will be the “ACA”) needs to stay.

    So, what is the next step? Which step will be the unveiling of the replacement Trumpcare? I would love to hear the Republican caucus trying to heel the rabid repealists now that they fully have the votes and ability to actually do it. Do all those who voted to repeal all those times before understand they were nothing more than political stooges – props in a political theatre of the absurd? Did they never notice that in the better part of a decade they never got their “replacement” together for their “repeal and replace” strategy?

  49. Porter Lansing 2017-01-14 15:35

    One of the next steps and the big question right now is from insurance companies. They’re wondering if after they double everyone’s premium rates, will the people blame insurance companies or will people blame Republicans? One thing for sure. No one can “BLAME OBAMA”.

  50. jerry 2017-01-14 16:22

    o, at this point in time, they will own that, complete. We do like what they did, bang them over the melons with it to take back the House. We impeach the pretender and move about smartly.

  51. Porter Lansing 2017-01-15 14:58

    Good one, Jerry. That news story if about my district and my congressman Mike “The Desk Jockey” Coffman. First he claimed to be a Marine war hero and it turned out he was a staff officer in the Green Zone that worked on setting up Iraqi elections. Now it turns out he’s not above cowardly sneaking out of a meeting with people asking pertinent questions about their healthcare. Coffman’s in a two year spiral of deceit, riding on the spiny tail of our new President. TAKE BACK THE HOUSE, DEMOCRATS

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