BREAKING: Obama's Health Care Law on Track to Hit 7 Million Sign-Ups on Deadline Day

[Samantha]

17. I believe I heard on cable this number does not include those who went out of the exchanges

and signed up directly with insurance companies. Those were probably people who experienced problems with website problems and knew they would not be be able to qualify for subsidies. I saw this message repeatedly on the Maryland site, which as you might have read, still does not work properly and might be totally overhauled. I did not do this, go directly to the insurance company quotes, because I thought I did qualify for a subsidy.

This number does not include also the offspring of insured parents who were allowed to stay on their parents' policies until they turned 26 (I believe that is the age).

It also does not include those who gained Medicaid coverage.

The total estimate which includes the 7 million who signed up through the exchange but not the other 3 categories I mentioned put forth an overall estimate of approximately 20 million who gained insurance during the signatory period. Of course, the Republicans will say those who went directly to insurance companies cannot be credited as having done so because of passage of the Affordable Care Act, but that is not entirely true. They were referred there by the websites and they also received better policies because of the negotiated terms the passage of this legislation prompted.

And that number is expected to grow....

I heard this information on MSNBC, and the number of people who signed up directly with insurance companies was estimated to be 9 million people! That leaves about 4 million who fall into the other two categories.

Sam