Rep. Stockman blasts Obama administration's absurd definition of 'Obamacare enrollee'

adambrickley | 8:38 PM on November 11, 2013

Twitter is starting to erupt over the Obama administration’s new definition of an Obamacare “enrollee,” which now includes anyone who has placed a plan in their “cart” on Healthcare.gov (no purchase required!). As always, Rep. Steve Stockman is among the first to point out the absurdity with a series of scathing tweets.

Obama finds a way to boost Obamacare enrollees: Redefine "enrollee" to include people who didn't enroll. http://t.co/VCdoIvfXBx

— Steve Stockman (@SteveWorks4You) November 12, 2013

Obama is now calculating Obamacare enrollments the same way Enron calculated assets. http://t.co/VCdoIvfXBx

— Steve Stockman (@SteveWorks4You) November 12, 2013

"Enrollee" now includes those who put a plan in their "shopping cart" but didn't buy. If Amazon operated that way the CEO would go to prison

— Steve Stockman (@SteveWorks4You) November 12, 2013

If you've ever visited WebMD you now count as an Obamacare enrollee.

— Steve Stockman (@SteveWorks4You) November 12, 2013

If you bought a "Scrubs" DVD on Amazon you now count as an Obamacare enrollee.

— Steve Stockman (@SteveWorks4You) November 12, 2013

Once we stop laughing, we should point out that this new paradigm could really help online retailers. For example, eHarmony would have a much higher success rate if it started counting every mutual expression of interest as a “successful eHarmony marriage.” We’re sure its users would love that.