Milestone: After Months of Faking and Hiding Numbers, Obama Administration Celebrates Its Proudest Moment in Fake Obamacare Numbers

This is the pinnacle.

Celebrating Another Phony Obamacare Milestone

By David Hogberg

This week, the Department of Health and Human Services reported that enrollment in the ObamaCare exchanges had reached 6 million.

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There are still plenty of things we don’t know about enrollment, which makes today’s announcement highly suspect. The most important question is: how many people have not paid their first premium? The New York Times reports that number may be as high as 20 percent. If so, then true enrollment would be closer to 4.8 million. This matters if for no other reason than it allows the Administration to claim success. If the true number is 6 million, then Administration lackeys will say, “Hey, look how close we got to 7 million.” However, if it’s under 5 million, they won’t have much to cheer about. Indeed, it’s fodder for critics. Although it’s pretty clear that the Administration has this information, don’t count on them releasing it, especially if it isn’t good. Rather, will have to wait until insurers start releasing their numbers.

Another important matter we don’t know is how many persons who were previously uninsured have signed up on the exchanges. Estimates vary from 10 percent to 35 percent. If we assume that there are 6 million enrollees (based on the previous paragraph, that’s a very generous assumption), then the number of uninsured who now have coverage via the exchanges ranges from 600,000 to 2.1 million.

Actually, depending on how many of those who had their insurance cancelled choose to now remain uninsured, Hogberg figures Obamacare could actually be a "wash" -- net zero -- as far providing coverage to the population. If those who had insurance, and who are now going without, equal that number the uninsured now insured (or "insured"), then Obamacare would have had a net zero impact on the population of the insured.

Except, of course, for creating a constituency of dependents for Obama.

Just a lesson for all of you:

With hard work, with grit and guts: you too can fake great things. All it takes is a bit of brio, a pliant media, and an HHS Secretary who doesn't know any of the numbers except the ones she's come to advertise.

posted by Ace at 12:36 PM

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