Obama Administration Inflates Enrollment Numbers

Health and Human Services just released numbers on enrollment.  The Balloon1press release states that “Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today that 106,185 individuals have selected plans from the Marketplace.”  Notice that it says “selected,” not “enrolled.”

If they were enrolled, that would mean they have qualified and are ready to make payments for a plan that begins January 1st.   However, selected can also mean that they have a plan in the “shopping cart” of their Obamacare exchange account.  As the report that accompanies the press release notes:

“Individuals Who Have Selected a Marketplace plan” represents the total number of “Individuals Determined Eligible to Enroll in a plan Through the Marketplace” who have selected a plan (with or without the first premium payment having been received directly by the Marketplace or the issuer) during the reference period. This is also known as pre-effectuated enrollment.

But that’s not the worst of it.  Indeed, of the 106,185 people who have “selected” a plan, 79,931 are have selected it from one of the 15 exchanges run by a state or Washington, DC.  Only 26,794 are in a plan they selected from Healthcare.gov

More to come….

UPDATE 1: The enrollment period in the press release runs 33 days from Oct. 1 to Nov. 2.  If 106,185 people have selected a plan, that means about 3,218 people per day have on average selected a plan.  There are 93 more days from Nov. 3 to the end of the enrollment period on March 31. At a rate of 3,218, only 299,274 more will select a plan for a total of 405,459 enrolled in the exchanges.

UPDATE 2: Less than one-third who are eligible for insurance on the exchanges are also eligible for a subsidy.  The report notes that of the 1,081,592 people who have been certified as eligible for an exchange plan, 326,130, or 30%, are eligible for a tax credit



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