For over two months, the White House refused to release the numbers of people signing up each day on the Obamacare website. All we have gotten is a total for October of folks who have selected a policy. We know that the Obamacrats have the figures since they leaked them for two days early in December that had comparatively good results (they almost reached 20% of the number needed). Now, however, we are back to the usual from the administration; they are keeping us in the dark.
One thing that has been troubling about even the sparse figures released by the White House is the numbers are for people "selecting plans" rather than people "actually purchasing insurance". That may not sound like much of a difference, but consider how many times you have gone to an on line site, looked at merchandise, put something in your shopping cart and then just left the site without buying. Each person who has done that with insurance is included as one who selected a policy, but they have not purchased a policy. In other words, using the number of people who selected a policy makes the numbers seem higher. That was bad enough, but now it has gotten worse. CNN is reporting that many people who chose policies have not paid for them. Originally, the Obamacare site was to have a mechanism for making the initial payment. After all, until that payment is made, the policy cannot be put into effect. For some unknown reason, despite having three and a half years to set this up and despite there being many examples of websites that accept payments on line, the Obamacrats never got around to even beginning to design the part of the site that takes payments. That's right, it is not that there were bugs or glitches, to use the favorite word, in the payment section. Team Obama did not even begin to build a payment mechanism. If you get far enough on the Obamacare website to have to make payment, the site just sends you to the home page of the insurance company from whom you are buying coverage.
So take a step back for a moment. What difference does it make if folks have to pay the insurer directly or if they pay through the Obamacare website? Apparently, it makes a huge difference. I have not seen the particular page on the website that covers payments, but it must not be clear. The overwhelming majority of people getting this far have not been making payments for their policies. CNN reports about one insurance company in Indiana that has only gotten payments for one-fifth of the policies selected. Here's what CNN says:
One insurer, Physicians Health Plan of Northern Indiana, has received payments from only about 20% of applicants, nearly all using the firm's online portal, said Jim Brunnemer, the chief financial officer. It is sending invoices and email reminders to those who haven't yet sealed the deal. If payment isn't made by New Year's Eve, PHP has been told by federal officials that it must void the application.
If this 20% figure is indicative of what is happening in the rest of the country, then the terrible numbers given for October sign ups were actually five times to high. There are probably thousands of people who think they have signed up but who really did not because of lack of payment.
This problem is a different one from the one-third of people signing up whose data was reported incorrectly to the insurers. So we have 80% who have not paid and 33% whose policies have fatal errors in them. I wonder if there are actually any people who used the federal site, chose a policy, paid for it and then actually got insurance cards that were correct.
This just keeps getting worse.
One thing that has been troubling about even the sparse figures released by the White House is the numbers are for people "selecting plans" rather than people "actually purchasing insurance". That may not sound like much of a difference, but consider how many times you have gone to an on line site, looked at merchandise, put something in your shopping cart and then just left the site without buying. Each person who has done that with insurance is included as one who selected a policy, but they have not purchased a policy. In other words, using the number of people who selected a policy makes the numbers seem higher. That was bad enough, but now it has gotten worse. CNN is reporting that many people who chose policies have not paid for them. Originally, the Obamacare site was to have a mechanism for making the initial payment. After all, until that payment is made, the policy cannot be put into effect. For some unknown reason, despite having three and a half years to set this up and despite there being many examples of websites that accept payments on line, the Obamacrats never got around to even beginning to design the part of the site that takes payments. That's right, it is not that there were bugs or glitches, to use the favorite word, in the payment section. Team Obama did not even begin to build a payment mechanism. If you get far enough on the Obamacare website to have to make payment, the site just sends you to the home page of the insurance company from whom you are buying coverage.
So take a step back for a moment. What difference does it make if folks have to pay the insurer directly or if they pay through the Obamacare website? Apparently, it makes a huge difference. I have not seen the particular page on the website that covers payments, but it must not be clear. The overwhelming majority of people getting this far have not been making payments for their policies. CNN reports about one insurance company in Indiana that has only gotten payments for one-fifth of the policies selected. Here's what CNN says:
One insurer, Physicians Health Plan of Northern Indiana, has received payments from only about 20% of applicants, nearly all using the firm's online portal, said Jim Brunnemer, the chief financial officer. It is sending invoices and email reminders to those who haven't yet sealed the deal. If payment isn't made by New Year's Eve, PHP has been told by federal officials that it must void the application.
If this 20% figure is indicative of what is happening in the rest of the country, then the terrible numbers given for October sign ups were actually five times to high. There are probably thousands of people who think they have signed up but who really did not because of lack of payment.
This problem is a different one from the one-third of people signing up whose data was reported incorrectly to the insurers. So we have 80% who have not paid and 33% whose policies have fatal errors in them. I wonder if there are actually any people who used the federal site, chose a policy, paid for it and then actually got insurance cards that were correct.
This just keeps getting worse.
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