Yes my friends, there was much celebrating going on over at the White House because, even though the final healthcare.gov enrollment numbers are, supposedly, not yet known, Barry & Co. felt optimistic enough to claim success in implementing Obamacare, aka the Affordable Care Act. "We're achieving something today that has our critics gnashing their teeth," White House spokesmoron Jay Carney somewhat boldly proclaimed to reporters on Monday. But I would argue that that claim is more likely an example of their wishful thinking that it is an actual statement of fact.
Because, other than the word of scumbags like Carney, what do we really have to go on that would indicate that they have been anywhere near as successful as they claim. But that didn’t stop Carney from saying, "More than 6 million people have signed up." He then went on to say, "No one expected us to come back from the brink or to surpass the revised CBO projection that 6 million consumers would sign up in year one, but we have. And I think that merits noting in your reports." But seriously folks, I think the days of us being able to believe anything that anyone from this administration says, are long gone.
Carney also said, "And it will be very hard for Republicans and other critics to make the argument that a better world would be a world in which all those millions of Americans didn't have health insurance, didn't have protections against being denied coverage because they have a pre-existing condition, didn't have the ability to keep their kids, their adult children, on their insurance policies till age 26, didn't have the discounts that seniors get through the Affordable Care Act and all the preventive care measures through the Affordable Care Act." This is all nothing more than Carney’s attempt to put lipstick on a pig.
Carney said, "That's a tough argument, I would think, to make, except when you're preaching to a choir that's opposed to ACA regardless of what you say about the benefits." Carney said it would be better for Republicans to acknowledge that the law is here to stay, and again claimed that the Republicans have failed to produce an alternative plan that doesn't take away the benefits people already are getting. That’s nothing but one more lie on what has become a very long list of many that we hear from Democrats whenever the topic of discussion is Obamacare. And many more will likely be told over the next few months.
And while the White House announced that Obamacare had hit its March 31 objective, and four days ahead of schedule, sadly, it’s doubtful that we can believe much of anything of what we’re now being told. Barry & Co. tout the fact that more than 6 million Americans have now signed up for coverage through new insurance markets. The initial goal of 7 million enrollees was revised downward by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in February, a move that was embraced by the White House. But still, we have absolutely no idea how many people have really signed up for this thing.
Because the truth, as is usually the case whenever dealing with this, what was supposed to be the most transparent administration in our history, is pretty far removed from what we’re now expected to believe. And here’s where the ambiguity begins:
1. The administration has yet to announce how many "enrollees" have paid their first month’s premium. Some independent estimates say that as many as 10 percent to 20 percent have not paid, which would bring the real enrollment number down to between 5 million and 6 million people.
2. Of the 3.3 million people that the White House said had "signed up" through January, less than 500,000 were uninsured people who actually gained new healthcare coverage, according to McKinsey, a leading management consulting firm.
3. The White House counts Medicaid enrollees in its numbers. Through December, between 1 and 2 million ObamaCare enrollees actually signed up for Medicaid vs. health insurance.
4. Moreover, when states report Medicaid enrollment data to the federal government, they don’t break down the number between the "gained Medicaid because of Obamacare" population and the "would have gotten Medicaid anyway" group.
So while Barry & Co. are now busy patting themselves on the back for being able to hit what was nothing more than a revised goal, many questions still remain as to the bottom-line, actual number of people who have actually gained healthcare coverage exclusively because of ObamaCare. And I’m quite sure that as we move ever closer to the midterm elections, with many ‘experts’ claiming that Obamacare fallout is likely to have a significant impact on the result, we will likely continue to hear, from Democrats, all manner of exaggerated claims being made in an effort to keep electoral damage to a minimum.
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