Just 53% Of North Dakotans "Enrolled" In Obamacare Have Paid First Month's Premium.

Last night the Obama administration, clearly acting out of concern about hitting enrollment goals, allowed Americans to get an extension on the individual mandate based on the honor system. As long as someone claims they’ve tried to sign up through the exchange for insurance before April 1st they can get an extension, and the feds won’t check on whether or not they’re telling the truth.

The Obama administration is claiming millions of enrollments in Obamacare, but they aren’t reporting enrollments so much as plans selected. It’s anyone’s guess how many of those selected plans have been effectuated by paying the first month’s premium. Nationally estimates suggest that 15-20 percent have not paid.

In North Dakota, that percentage is much higher and it’s not an estimate. According to numbers presented by Insurance Commissioner Adam Hamm to the Legislature’s Interim Health Care Reform Review Committee, just less than 47% of those who have selected a plan have effectuated coverage.

You can see the specific breakdown by the three companies operating on the federal exchange for North Dakota to the right. That’s taken from the presentation Hamm gave the committee last week. The numbers are as of March 5th.

Not only does North Dakota have the second lowest number of Obamacare enrollments (or, more accurately, plan selections) in the nation, ahead of only Hawaii, at 5,238 (as of March 1st), but just a little more than half of those who have selected a plan have effectuated coverage.

Those are some pretty ugly numbers.