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Amid Uncertainty, Healthcare.gov CEO Encourages Consumers To Sign Up

healthcare.gov

The head of the Obamacare exchanges is encouraging consumers to continue signing up for health insurance even though Republicans are promising to repeal the law. The CEO of healthcare.gov acknowledges he can't guarantee there won't be changes in coverage.

President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans who control Congress have vowed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. About 20 million Americans rely on that law for health insurance. In North Carolina, about 550,000 people are insured through the Obamacare exchange or marketplace.

healthcare.gov

Federal Marketplace CEO Kevin Counihan says he can't promise that coverage will remain.  

"It's not my place to promise anything about a new administration," he says. "But what I can tell you is not only are we moving forward, but our enrollment is higher than expected."

More than 1 million people have signed up since the new enrollment period began this month, according to federal data. That includes 53,000 more than the same period a year ago.

Although Counihan won't make promises, health care researchers say it's unlikely Republicans would eliminate people's insurance before they've replaced it. Researchers and industry insiders estimate that won't happen before 2018.

Copyright 2016 WFAE

Michael Tomsic became a full-time reporter for WFAE in August 2012. Before that, he reported for the station as a freelancer and intern while he finished his senior year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Heââ
Michael Tomsic
Michael Tomsic covers health care, voting rights, NASCAR, peach-shaped water towers and everything in between. He drivesWFAE'shealth care coverage through a partnership with NPR and Kaiser Health News. He became a full-time reporter forWFAEin August 2012. Before that, he reported for the station as a freelancer and intern while he finished his senior year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He interned with Weekends on All Things Considered in Washington, D.C., where he contributed to the show’s cover stories, produced interviews withNasand BranfordMarsalis, and reported a story about a surge of college graduates joining the military. AtUNC, he was the managing editor of the student radio newscast, Carolina Connection. He got his start in public radio as an intern withWHQRin Wilmington, N.C., where he grew up.
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