With the announcement from our government that as of the end of January, 3.3 million have signed up for private insurance through ObamaCare, NBC’s First Read declared victory for Obama Thursday. The headline reads: “[G]ood health-care news for the White House — enrollment is no longer a problem.” There is just one problem. No one at NBC News has any idea what the real enrollment numbers are. Regardless, this is what NBC News reports:
Here’s the conclusion you can reach from the new health-care numbers the Obama administration released on Wednesday: Months after the all the website woes, the health law no longer has an overall enrollment problem. According to the stats, 3.3 million have now signed up for health-care coverage through Feb. 1 (1.4 million in state marketplaces, 1.9 million in the federal one), and 1.1 million signed up in January alone.
The number of falsehoods contained in just a few NBC sentences is breathtaking.
To begin with, the government’s 3.3 million number is not “enrollments.” That number reflects only those who went so far as to place a private ObamaCare health care plan in an online shopping cart. The Department of Health and Human Services claims to not know how many people went so far as to pay for a plan — and it is only through paying for the plan that you are enrolled.
Secondly, we also don’t know how many people will remain enrolled. You have to pay your premium every month. How many will stop paying after a month or three? Or already have?
Finally, we know for a fact that ObamaCare canceled as many as six million health plans held by Americans. How many of those 3.3 million “enrollees” are people who had the health insurance coverage they liked canceled by ObamaCare and were therefore forced by their government to enroll in ObamaCare?
How exactly is having your president lie to you about keeping your plan and then forcing you into his government boondoggle a success? From what we do know, a huge majority of those signing up were forced to after their plans were canceled. If the uninsured are not signing up, you do have a problem — unless of course you have a major news organization carrying your water for you.
Other than what their precious Obama is spoonfeeding them, NBC News has absolutely no data to back up its claim that ObamaCare enrollments are no longer a problem. NBC News has not publicly pressed the Administration for the real data (and declaring a victory for them is the opposite of applying pressure). NBC News has done no independent reporting (that I’m aware of) to verify the government’s numbers.
This isn’t journalism. It’s lapdog stenography.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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