We are now being told that 2.1 million "people" have "enrolled" in insurance plans on the Obamacare exchanges -- both federal and state. I wonder what this actually means.
1. When Kathleen Sebelius says 2.1 million "people", does she really mean "people" or does she mean "policies". Remember, the goal has been to sell 7 million new policies to the previously uninsured between October 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014. The 2.1 million "people" that Sebelius announced looks like 30% of the target. Of course, since most policies cover more than one person, the 2.1 million "people" actually indicates that no more than 1 million policies are involved.
2. When Kathleen Sebelius talks of 2.1 million who "enrolled" in insurance plans, what does she mean? To date, all official statistics issued have covered plans selected rather than plans sold. In other words, if someone goes on the website, reviews the plans and then puts one in his or her basket, that is a plan selected. If that person never goes back to complete the purchase, it still counts as a plan selected. Further, even if that person does complete the purchase formalities at the check-out on the website but then never pays for the insurance, no policy has been sold. The government still counts the policy as one for which someone has enrolled. The data for the first two plus months of the exchange showed that only between 5 and 15% of the plans for which someone "enrolled" actually resulted in the sale of a policy. As the year end approached, I would expect the percentage completing the purchase to rise, so a fair approximation might be that 25 to 30% of the "enrollments" resulted in an actual sale. That would mean that of the 2.1 million "people" enrolled, there were only between 500 and 600 thousand who actually bought insurance. That would translate into 250 to 300 thousand policies.
3. The figures that Sebelius uses do not tell us how many of the policies sold went to people who already had insurance which was cancelled due to Obamacare. The latest figures put the number of policies cancelled at just around 7 million, and that figure keeps rising. I myself just learned last week that my policy is being cancelled as a direct result of Obamacare. Not all the cancellations are as of January first, however. Even if it is only ten percent for which January is the cancellation date, that means that 700,000 policies and roughly 1.4 million people lost their insurance at the stroke of midnight on New Years Day. This is far more than the number of people who actually purchased insurance on the exchanges.
The real truth is that as of January 1, 2014, the net effect of Obamacare has been to reduce, REDUCE, the number of people in America with health insurance coverage. The figures issued by Sebelius and the other Obamacrats do not change this reality. Obama and his people are engaged in a massive distortion of the facts. On top of this, there are going to be about another 90 million policies that get cancelled during 2014 according to the estimates of the federal government. These are not claims made by opponents of the law; they come right out of the reports of Obama's own people. Most of these people will get other coverage; of that there can be no doubt. If only 5% of these folks lose their coverage, however, we will still see 4.5 million policies cancelled which will mean another 9 million people without coverage.
Obamacare was sold as a way to cover the Americans without health insurance, to cut the insurance costs for the average family, and to reduce the federal budget deficit. No sane person ever expected the budget deficit to get cut, so the fact that Obamacare now costs a trillion dollars more than originally expected should surprise no one. Nevertheless, we now have definitive proof that the insurance costs of the average family are rising substantially rather than being cut by $2500 per year as Obama promised. We also can see that the numbers of insured Americans are decreasing due to Obamacare. In other words, the law has failed on every front. We need to get rid of it as soon as possible.
1. When Kathleen Sebelius says 2.1 million "people", does she really mean "people" or does she mean "policies". Remember, the goal has been to sell 7 million new policies to the previously uninsured between October 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014. The 2.1 million "people" that Sebelius announced looks like 30% of the target. Of course, since most policies cover more than one person, the 2.1 million "people" actually indicates that no more than 1 million policies are involved.
2. When Kathleen Sebelius talks of 2.1 million who "enrolled" in insurance plans, what does she mean? To date, all official statistics issued have covered plans selected rather than plans sold. In other words, if someone goes on the website, reviews the plans and then puts one in his or her basket, that is a plan selected. If that person never goes back to complete the purchase, it still counts as a plan selected. Further, even if that person does complete the purchase formalities at the check-out on the website but then never pays for the insurance, no policy has been sold. The government still counts the policy as one for which someone has enrolled. The data for the first two plus months of the exchange showed that only between 5 and 15% of the plans for which someone "enrolled" actually resulted in the sale of a policy. As the year end approached, I would expect the percentage completing the purchase to rise, so a fair approximation might be that 25 to 30% of the "enrollments" resulted in an actual sale. That would mean that of the 2.1 million "people" enrolled, there were only between 500 and 600 thousand who actually bought insurance. That would translate into 250 to 300 thousand policies.
3. The figures that Sebelius uses do not tell us how many of the policies sold went to people who already had insurance which was cancelled due to Obamacare. The latest figures put the number of policies cancelled at just around 7 million, and that figure keeps rising. I myself just learned last week that my policy is being cancelled as a direct result of Obamacare. Not all the cancellations are as of January first, however. Even if it is only ten percent for which January is the cancellation date, that means that 700,000 policies and roughly 1.4 million people lost their insurance at the stroke of midnight on New Years Day. This is far more than the number of people who actually purchased insurance on the exchanges.
The real truth is that as of January 1, 2014, the net effect of Obamacare has been to reduce, REDUCE, the number of people in America with health insurance coverage. The figures issued by Sebelius and the other Obamacrats do not change this reality. Obama and his people are engaged in a massive distortion of the facts. On top of this, there are going to be about another 90 million policies that get cancelled during 2014 according to the estimates of the federal government. These are not claims made by opponents of the law; they come right out of the reports of Obama's own people. Most of these people will get other coverage; of that there can be no doubt. If only 5% of these folks lose their coverage, however, we will still see 4.5 million policies cancelled which will mean another 9 million people without coverage.
Obamacare was sold as a way to cover the Americans without health insurance, to cut the insurance costs for the average family, and to reduce the federal budget deficit. No sane person ever expected the budget deficit to get cut, so the fact that Obamacare now costs a trillion dollars more than originally expected should surprise no one. Nevertheless, we now have definitive proof that the insurance costs of the average family are rising substantially rather than being cut by $2500 per year as Obama promised. We also can see that the numbers of insured Americans are decreasing due to Obamacare. In other words, the law has failed on every front. We need to get rid of it as soon as possible.
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