It is now over a week since the end of the open enrollment period for Obamacare. I know; don't email me that president Obama "waived" the end date for people who claimed to have begun the sign up process. Those folks have until April 15th to complete enrollment. Nevertheless, except for some tiny group that may still sign up, the process has been over for a week now. Further, since March 31 was the end of the period and since payment is required to get insurance, we have now had a week for the insurance companies to figure out just how many policies they actually sold. Where are those numbers? How many people actually got insurance on the exchanges?
It is unbelievable for Obama to tell us that it is too soon to come up with the figures. He used to say that all the time when the numbers were so awful as to be embarrassing, but then on March 31 he announced that 7.1 million had signed up in total. By doing that, he confirmed that the previous claims that the federal government lacked access to the actual figures were all lies. Clearly, the feds know how many people had signed up. They also know which policies were purchased. Even if they do not know who had paid for the policies and who had not, it would be easy enough to ask the insurance companies just how many had paid. Indeed, the insurance companies also know the demographics of those who bought coverage including a number of critical factors:
1. The age and sex of the people getting insurance.
2. Whether or not the buyer of insurance was previously insured.
3. Whether or not the buyer of insurance is getting a subsidy from the federal government as part of the purchase and the amount, if any, of that subsidy.
By putting these three factors together with the numbers of people who have actually paid for the insurance, the government would have a complete description of those who have bought insurance. If the figures have not yet been compiled, that work could be completed in less than a day. So where are the numbers? How many people actually got insurance for the first time on the exchanges?
America deserves to know what these numbers are. Some have analyzed the data and concluded that no more than 1.5 million people gained insurance on the exchanges while the number of folks losing coverage after their plans were cancelled by Obamacare was higher. It may well be that Obamacare, the so called affordable care act, actually reduced the number of those with insurance in the country. It is also possible that the numbers of newly insured folks is slightly higher than the numbers of folks who lost their insurance. The White House wants to use the 7.1 million figure when talking about the newly insured, but we all know that it would be completely erroneous to do so. Shouldn't we all know what the effect of Obamacare has been? Why isn't Obama releasing the data?
It is unbelievable for Obama to tell us that it is too soon to come up with the figures. He used to say that all the time when the numbers were so awful as to be embarrassing, but then on March 31 he announced that 7.1 million had signed up in total. By doing that, he confirmed that the previous claims that the federal government lacked access to the actual figures were all lies. Clearly, the feds know how many people had signed up. They also know which policies were purchased. Even if they do not know who had paid for the policies and who had not, it would be easy enough to ask the insurance companies just how many had paid. Indeed, the insurance companies also know the demographics of those who bought coverage including a number of critical factors:
1. The age and sex of the people getting insurance.
2. Whether or not the buyer of insurance was previously insured.
3. Whether or not the buyer of insurance is getting a subsidy from the federal government as part of the purchase and the amount, if any, of that subsidy.
By putting these three factors together with the numbers of people who have actually paid for the insurance, the government would have a complete description of those who have bought insurance. If the figures have not yet been compiled, that work could be completed in less than a day. So where are the numbers? How many people actually got insurance for the first time on the exchanges?
America deserves to know what these numbers are. Some have analyzed the data and concluded that no more than 1.5 million people gained insurance on the exchanges while the number of folks losing coverage after their plans were cancelled by Obamacare was higher. It may well be that Obamacare, the so called affordable care act, actually reduced the number of those with insurance in the country. It is also possible that the numbers of newly insured folks is slightly higher than the numbers of folks who lost their insurance. The White House wants to use the 7.1 million figure when talking about the newly insured, but we all know that it would be completely erroneous to do so. Shouldn't we all know what the effect of Obamacare has been? Why isn't Obama releasing the data?
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