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EXCLUSIVE: Just 51,000 people completed Obamacare applications during the website's first week, out of tens of millions of Americans in 36 states
The Daily Mail / Mail Online
David Martosko, U.S. Political Editor
10/10/2013
Just 51,000 people completed Obamacare applications during the first week the Healthcare.gov website was online, according to two sources inside the Department of Health and Human Services who gave MailOnline an exclusive look at the earliest enrollment numbers.
The career civil servants, who process data inside the agency, confirmed independently that just 6,200 Americans applied for health insurance through the problem-plagued website on October 1, the day it first opened to the public.
Neither HHS nor the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would comment on the record about the numbers. Enroll America, the president's organization of health care 'navigators' who are charged with helping Americans sign up, didn't reply to a request for information about its level of success so far.
The White House also did not respond to emails seeking comment.
But several administration officials have claimed this month that they didn't have access to the kinds of raw figures MailOnline obtained from the people who work for them. And the anemic totals suggest a far lower level of interest in coverage through the Affordable Care Act than the Obama administration has hoped to see.
Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, a Republican who chairs the House Ways & Means Health Subcommittee, said that 'if the numbers are accurate,' they show 'that relatively few people have navigated the challenges of the first step of the process – roughly the population of a small town in my district.'
'The White House and HHS have continually claimed they did not have these figures,' Brady told MailOnline. 'If they do, they have misled the Congress and the American people.' - (NOTE: 'MISLED' = 'LIE': bold and color emphasis added)
The low numbers also reflect a level of technological frustration on the part of Americans whose attempts to investigate their new health insurance options have been met with crashes, error messages and interminable delays.
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View the complete article, including photos and videos, at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...lications.html
- Obamacare's main signup engine attracted just 6,200 new customers on its launch day and 51,000 after the first week
- At the same rate, the 6-month open enrollment period would sign up just 2 million Americans, including 14 states and D.C., which have their own insurance exchanges
- The Congressional Budget Office says Obamacare needs at least 7 million customers to stay afloat financially
- Numerous Obama administration officials have denied seeing any enrollment figures at all
- MailOnline's sources are two Health and Human Services workers who have access to the data as it's crunched
- Texas congressman says anemic national enrollment numbers are 'roughly the population of a small town in my district'
The Daily Mail / Mail Online
David Martosko, U.S. Political Editor
10/10/2013
Just 51,000 people completed Obamacare applications during the first week the Healthcare.gov website was online, according to two sources inside the Department of Health and Human Services who gave MailOnline an exclusive look at the earliest enrollment numbers.
The career civil servants, who process data inside the agency, confirmed independently that just 6,200 Americans applied for health insurance through the problem-plagued website on October 1, the day it first opened to the public.
Neither HHS nor the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would comment on the record about the numbers. Enroll America, the president's organization of health care 'navigators' who are charged with helping Americans sign up, didn't reply to a request for information about its level of success so far.
The White House also did not respond to emails seeking comment.
But several administration officials have claimed this month that they didn't have access to the kinds of raw figures MailOnline obtained from the people who work for them. And the anemic totals suggest a far lower level of interest in coverage through the Affordable Care Act than the Obama administration has hoped to see.
Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, a Republican who chairs the House Ways & Means Health Subcommittee, said that 'if the numbers are accurate,' they show 'that relatively few people have navigated the challenges of the first step of the process – roughly the population of a small town in my district.'
'The White House and HHS have continually claimed they did not have these figures,' Brady told MailOnline. 'If they do, they have misled the Congress and the American people.' - (NOTE: 'MISLED' = 'LIE': bold and color emphasis added)
The low numbers also reflect a level of technological frustration on the part of Americans whose attempts to investigate their new health insurance options have been met with crashes, error messages and interminable delays.
..........................................
View the complete article, including photos and videos, at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...lications.html