One year in, Obamacare marketplace still subject to political spin

One year after the disastrous launch of HealthCare.gov, the federal website that serves as the Obamacare hub for dozens of states, the views on the 2010 health care law are decidedly mixed.

According to the CBS News/ New York Times poll released two weeks ago, 51 percent of Americans disapprove of the Affordable Care Act while 41 percent approve. The split comes down along partisan lines -- 83 percent of Republicans said they disapprove of the law, while 67 percent of Democrats approve of it.

That partisan split may not be too surprising, given that politicians have had the luxury of cherry-picking health care data to support one theory or another about the law's success. There are several metrics that can be used to judge the state of the nation's health care system, such as the number of Americans who've gained coverage, rising premiums, the cost of building HealthCare.gov and its technical security. Here's a look at some of those metrics and the partisan spin they inspire:

Coverage rates

One of the primary goals of the Affordable Care Act was to expand insurance coverage. When HealthCare.gov launched last year, it gave millions of Americans a new way to access the individual health insurance market. The administration has proudly pointed to the several studies showing that millions of Americans do, in fact, have new health care coverage this year.

In May, Gallup released a survey showing that more than 8.9 million adults gained health coverage this year. The Health and Human Services Department has cited a study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which estimated that 10.3 million uninsured adults gained coverage.

"We are committed to providing every American with access to quality, affordable health services and this study reaffirms that the Affordable Care Act has set us on a path toward achieving that goal," HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a statement after that study was released.

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As for the number of Americans with coverage on the new Obamacare marketplaces, that number stood at 7.3 million as of Aug. 15, an administration official told Congress last month.

Not all Republicans, however, are taking the coverage numbers at face value. Upon learning that there are 7.3 million Americans on the Obamacare market, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-California, questioned why the administration said earlier in the year that there were 8 million enrollees. He charged that the 700,000 individuals no longer in the marketplace "got a free ride" for three months.

In other words, they took advantage of the fact that an individual who signs up for coverage on the Obamacare marketplace doesn't have to pay their premiums for three months. Issa suggested those individuals signed up with the intention of dropping out after getting three months of free coverage.

It's an "incredibly easily gamed system," he said.

Rising premiums

Politicians from both sides of the aisle regularly cite data about rising premiums in the post-Obamacare insurance market. Depending on which data they use, it could look good or bad for the health care law.

As insurance companies this year started releasing information about premium increases for the coming year, Democrats seized on news that the increases wouldn't be that eye-popping. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Illinois, quoted a National Journal article in July that said, "Obamacare's critics promised the law would send insurance premiums skyrocketing. They were wrong."

The National Journal article cites an analysis from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). The accounting firm's latest analysis, from Aug. 27, shows that across states that have already released the data, the average rate increase for the individual market comes to 7 percent.

While the average increase is in the double digits, changes in premiums vary widely, depending on the state and on the plan in question. In Florida, PWC reports that premiums will in some cases decrease by as much as 11.6 percent, but in other cases will increase by as much as 23 percent.

When the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reported in August that premiums for "individual major medical plans" in Florida will go up an average of 13.2 percent in 2015, conservatives blamed the double-digit increase on Obamacare.

The White House, meanwhile, took issue with Florida's official report, complaining that the state should be using different metrics to determine the "average" increase in premiums.

Choices on the Obamacare marketplace

Democrats and Republicans are both eyeing the makeup of the Obamacare marketplace -- the number of different insurers offering plans through Obamacare and the quality of those plans.

The administration, for instance, is touting the fact that 77 new issuers will be offering plans on the Obamacare marketplace next year.

"When consumers have more choices, we all benefit," Burwell said in a statement when the new figure was released last week. "In terms of affordability, access, and quality, today's news is very encouraging. It's a real sign that the Affordable Care Act is working."

At the same time, Republicans have pointed out that insurers are limiting their networks in order to cut costs on the new marketplaces. In the coming year, the Los Angeles Times reported after conducting its own analysis, California's "largest health insurers are sticking with their often-criticized narrow networks of doctors, and in some cases they are cutting the number of physicians even more."

That is the sort of development that gives credence to the sort of complaints in this ad released by the Florida Republican Party: "I'm disabled and I can't find doctors that will help me."

Consumers will get to decide for themselves how the Obamacare marketplace is shaping up on November 15, when open enrollment for the second year of Obamacare begins. At that point, consumers already on the marketplace will be auto-enrolled in the same plan and will receive notices from their insurance companies about their new premiums. They may, however, miss out on lower-cost plans.

For consumers shopping on the Obamacare marketplace for the first time this year, the process should go more smoothly than it did for consumers last year. In one improvement for consumers this year, those interested in browsing the health insurance options available will be able to "window shop" on HealthCare.gov without signing up on the site. Additionally, ost consumers coming to the marketplace for the first time will find that HealthCare.gov offers a shorter application than last year, the New York Times reports.