Almost All the Sign-Ups for ObamaCare So Far Are Actually for Medicaid

President Obama pretends his health care law is based in the private sector but, as Republicans have been warning for months, early enrollment numbers show that is not at all the case.

Nearly all of ObamaCare’s sign-ups since its launch have been in the government-run Medicaid program, the Washington Post reports. If that trend continues, not only will states that have opted into the Medicaid expansion be burdened with extraordinarily high and unexpected costs, but the Affordable Care Act, which depends on enrollment in the ObamaCare exchange plans, will begin to fall apart.

From the Washington Post:

The first month of the new health law’s rollout reveals an unexpected pattern in several states: a crush of people applying for an expansion of Medicaid and a trickle of sign-ups for private insurance.

This early imbalance — in some places, nine out of 10 enrollees are in Medicaid — has taken some experts by surprise. The Affordable Care Act, which expanded Medicaid to cover millions of the poorest Americans who couldn’t otherwise afford coverage, envisions a more even split with an expanded, robust private market.

“When we first saw the numbers, everyone’s eyes kind of bugged out,” said Matt Salo, who runs the National Association of Medicaid Directors. “Of the people walking through the door, 90 percent are on Medicaid. We’re thinking, what planet is this happening on?”

The yawning gap between public and private enrollment is handing Republicans yet another line of criticism against President Obama’s health overhaul — that the law is primarily becoming an expansion of a costly entitlement program.