Too soon for an ObamaCare victory lap

The ObamaCare inaugural open enrollment ended on Monday just like it began: riddled with technical difficulties. Notorious for a glitch-ridden debut on Oct. 1, 2013, the site was down for several hours on at least two occasions throughout the day on Monday. On top of that, the administration announced last week that individuals who began – but weren’t...

The ObamaCare inaugural open enrollment ended on Monday just like it began: riddled with technical difficulties. Notorious for a glitch-ridden debut on Oct. 1, 2013, the site was down for several hours on at least two occasions throughout the day on Monday.

On top of that, the administration announced last week that individuals who began – but weren’t able to complete – their enrollment by Monday would be granted more time to do so. Never mind that Department of Health and Human Services officials stated that the administration would not extend enrollment, and that they did not have the statutory authority to do so. This represents, by some counts, 38 times that the president’s signature health-care overhaul has been altered or delayed.

Late Monday night, the Obama administration was declaring victory at having reached 7 million enrollments. The original goal was to reduce the number of uninsured by 14 million in 2014, with about half of new enrollees obtaining coverage through the exchange. But this represents just one example of the Obama administration moving the goal posts.

When the Congressional Budget Office first projected a 14 million reduction in the number of uninsured Americans, this number was based on providing private coverage and Medicaid to the previously uninsured. Not only does this 7 million enrollment announcement fail to report the number of people who have paid for a health insurance policy and are now, therefore, covered, but also the vast majority of exchange enrollees are likely individuals who previously had health insurance coverage.

Instead of counting people who have actually paid for a plan, the administration is counting anyone who put a plan in his or her shopping cart, but has not necessarily paid, as being enrolled. While the administration has refused to provide actual enrollment numbers, national survey data reveal that the number of paid enrollments is likely in the neighborhood of about 5.6 million.

But the more striking statistics is that the previously uninsured are far less likely to actually pay for a plan, and make up about one-third of those covered. Taken together, the president’s health-care overhaul barely moved the needle on moving the uninsured into private health-insurance coverage. The number of newly insured is likely well below 2 million.

To understand how close the 7 million enrollment number really is, one needs to look beyond the Obama administration’s press releases and media headlines. The administration is, essentially, celebrating 7 million “enrollees,” many of whom were kicked off their private coverage and thrown into the exchange as a direct result of ObamaCare.

It is likely that fewer than 2 million of the nation’s previous 48 million uninsured now have private insurance coverage as a result of the health-care overhaul. Given the enormous costs and disruptions to millions whose health insurance has been canceled (with more to come), as well as the higher costs and limited provider networks, is this “achievement” really worth celebrating?