Hawaii Obamacare Spent More Per Enrollee Than a New BMW

President Barack Obama’s home state of Hawaii’s Obamacare exchange spent $35,749 per enrollee, a sum greater than the price of a new 2014 BMW 320i sedan (MSRP $32,750). 

“Just obscene amounts of money have disappeared into these state exchanges for very little actual performance,” said American Commitment President Phil Kerpen. “You just have this huge duplication and waste in places like Hawaii and Oregon.” 

A CNBC analysis ranking taxpayer-funded federal expenditures on Obamacare found that Hawaii enrolled just 5,744 people through its Obamacare exchange at a cost to taxpayers of $205,342,270. The second-worst performer was the District of Columbia which spent $20,499.37 per enrollee. DC bagged $133,573,927 to sign up just 6,518 people. 

CNBC says that the national average cost per enrollee is $6,894.05. However, the number of those counted as enrollees that have actually activated their coverage by paying their first month’s premium is presently unclear. A New York Times analysis revealed that at least one in five Obamacare enrollees did not pay their first premiums in 2013, thereby leaving them uninsured – a fact that stands to skyrocket per-enrollee figures. Moreover, Washington Post columnist Ed Rogers notes that the federal government’s enrollment figures also include duplicate and incomplete applications.

Obamacare remains deeply unpopular. The latest Associated Press poll finds that just 26% of Americans now support Obamacare. 

Obamacare will cost U.S. taxpayers $2.6 trillion over the next ten years.