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Call it the political equivalent of a death-defying escape: former President Barack Obama's health care law pulled in nearly 11.8 million customers for 2018, despite the Republican campaign to erase it from the books. An Associated Press count found that nationwide enrollment was about 3 percent lower than last year. California, with more than 1.5 million sign-ups, was the last state to report, announcing its numbers on Wednesday. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Vineys, 2/7)

ObamaCare saw a 3.7 percent drop in enrollment in 2018 compared to the year before, according to new numbers released Wednesday from a health-care group that says the relatively minor decline demonstrates “remarkable stability.” The national total of consumers who selected ObamaCare plans during this year’s open enrollment period was 11.8 million, compared to 12.2 million who signed up for plans in 2017. (Hellmann, 2/7)

That’s a far smaller drop than some health-policy watchers had foreseen, after the Trump administration halved the enrollment season and cut marketing and enrollment-assistance efforts. Trump himself declared the law “dead.” (Tracer and Tozzi, 2/7)

“Open enrollment this year began, as we all know, in an environment of confusion and uncertainty. Yet despite all that, enrollment in all the marketplaces across the nation was remarkably stable,” said Trish Riley, executive director of the National Academy for State Health Policy, on a call with reporters Wednesday morning. (Demko and Colliver, 2/7)

The new enrollment numbers — which include totals from California and other states that operate their own marketplaces, as well as states that rely on the federal HealthCare.gov marketplace — offer the most detailed picture to date of the insurance markets. And they suggest surprising strength in many markets across the country, with consumers steadily signing up for health plans even as Trump and his Republican congressional allies derided the markets as crumbling and unaffordable. "This shows that consumers really want and need coverage," said Trish Riley, executive director of the National Academy for State Health Policy, which compiled the nationwide enrollment tally. (Levey, 2/7)

States that run their own Affordable Care Act insurance marketplaces significantly outperformed the rest of the country in attracting consumers to sign up for health plans for 2018, according to enrollment tallies released on Wednesday. Overall enrollment stayed essentially level from the year before in the 11 states plus the District of Columbia with state-based marketplaces, while sign-ups in states that rely on the ACA’s federal exchange fell, on average, by more than 5 percent. Five states with hybrid systems did best of all, according to a report compiled by the National Academy for State Health Policy. (Goldstein, 2/7)

Kaiser Health News: Despite Changes That Undermined ACA Enrollment, Marketplaces ‘Remarkably Stable’

Despite their upbeat tone about this year’s enrollment, directors of several state marketplaces warned that 2019 looks grim. “Just the removal of the [individual mandate penalty in Congress’ recently enacted tax overhaul] will mean premiums go up 15 percent to 30 percent or more depending on the state,” said Lee. (Appleby, 2/7)