Originally published December 7 2014
Obama administration admits to drastically overinflating Obamacare enrollment numbers
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) With no more elections for him to win - and caring little about his own Democratic Party's prospects in future elections - President Obama is finally allowing the truth to trickle out about the massive con job he and his administration pulled on the American people to get the Affordable Care Act passed.
One of the most heinous of all "crimes," so to speak, has been the president's willingness to hide the true cost of the law, especially given that the country's debt from all unfunded, over-promised benefits - now at more than $115 trillion - already amounted to more money than even exists on the planet. That's worse than just irresponsible; again, that should be criminal.
Enrollment numbers exaggerated by Heath and Human Services admits Obama appointee Burwell
In recent days the Obama regime admitted that it overreported the number of people who enrolled for medical coverage under the president's signature health care law by double counting hundreds of thousands who enrolled in dental insurance plans in its initial health insurance numbers.
According to the New York Daily News, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell revealed the error - but not to a congressional panel or anything remotely as official. No, she fessed up on social media, following a Bloomberg News report which said that the administration's Obamacare enrollment numbers included some 400,000 dental plans in the government's assessment of sign-ups.
"The mistake we made is unacceptable," Burwell said on Twitter. "I will be communicating that clearly throughout the (department)."
Accountability for 'mistake' unlikely despite huge cost of error
Of course it's "unacceptable," but it's more than that - since such an "error" will result in billions more in taxpayer dollars (fewer enrollments means greater costs) it ought to be punishable. People ought to be dismissed from cushy government jobs and heads of departments, like Burwell, ought to be fired. But we're not holding our breath and neither should you.
A White House spokesman told The Associated Press that the regime had overreported enrollment numbers in Obamacare "by about 400,000 by double-counting consumers who had purchased both dental coverage and medical insurance coverage separately through Healthcare.gov and various state insurance marketplaces created under the law," the New York Daily News said.
The paper continued:
Administration officials had included the extra 400,000 in their enrollment numbers, helping Obama get 7.1 million enrollees - markedly above his original goal of getting 7 million enrollees. The revised number, to account for the error, as of Oct. 15, will be closer to 6.7 million enrollees, according to the administration.
The error was discovered by Republican investigators for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, according to various reports. That committee's chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa of California, has said he believes the White House purposely skewed the enrollment figures.
"Faced with large numbers of Americans running for an exit from Obamacare, instead of offering the public an accurate accounting, the administration engaged in an effort to obscure and downplay the number of dropouts," Issa said in a statement issued to the media.
The White House has, of course, denied those allegations. To hear Obama tell it, everyone else is wrong and only he is right when it comes to what his law is supposed to accomplish. This, despite the fact that nothing he has said it would do - lower premiums, cover everyone, cost families less per month - has come to fruition.
Falling enrollment figures
Aaron Albright, an administration spokesman, discounted Issa's comments: "No. It was a mistake," he said in response to a reporter's question, as reported by Inc.com.
In May the Obama administration reported that more than 8 million Americans had signed up for coverage through state exchanges created by the law - exchanges that offer taxpayer-subsidized private plans. At the time the White House claimed vindication and celebrated the law as reaching a milestone necessary for the law to pay for itself.
"The 8-million number was always expected to go down, because it included people who had not yet sealed the deal by paying their first month's premium," Inc.com reported.
It wasn't until September when the next enrollment update came along. That is when Medicare Administrator Marilyn Tavenner told Issa's committee there were 7.3 million enrollees. Since then, of course, Burwell has revised that figure downward even further.
Sources:
http://www.nydailynews.com
http://www.usdebtclock.org
http://www.inc.com
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