Right? We feel so … so … cheated! If we can’t trust the government to tell us the truth, who can we trust?
Hilarious. RT @politicalwire: Remember that 7 million Obamacare enrollment figure? It included dental-only plans http://t.co/AYMFzb12iu
— John Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) November 20, 2014
LOL absent dental plans being secretly counted, Obamacare would've missed enrollment goal! Transparency, bitches! http://t.co/duoGHnyESp
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) November 20, 2014
Well, butter our butts and call us biscuits!
The Obama administration included as many as 400,000 dental plans in a number it reported for enrollments under the Affordable Care Act, an unpublicized detail that helped surpass a goal for 7 million sign-ups.
Without the dental plans, the federal government would have had 6.97 million people with medical insurance under the law known as Obamacare, investigators for the House Oversight and Government Reform committee calculated, using data they obtained from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Federal officials said in September they had 7.3 million people enrolled in coverage through new government-run insurance exchanges. They didn’t distinguish between medical and dental plans, breaking from previous practice without notice.
Rep. Darrell Issa’s been tweeting about it, too:
After touting 8 mil initial #Obamacare signups for medical plans, four months later they engaged in concerted effort to obscure dropout rate
— Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) November 20, 2014
Instead of offering an accurate accounting, the admin engaged in an effort to obscure and downplay number of #Obamacare dropouts.
— Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) November 20, 2014
Recommended
At a Sept @GOPoversight hearing, CMS administrator Tavenner said 7.3 mil people were "enrolled in the health insurance marketplace coverage"
— Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) November 20, 2014
At that hearing, CMS Administrator Tavenner did not elaborate or break out dental plans as CMS has done in the past. #Obamacare
— Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) November 20, 2014
But in May of last year, the Obama admin separated the 8 mil health plan figure from the 1.1 mil dental coverage. #Obamacare
— Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) November 20, 2014
When @GOPoversight asked for raw enrollment data, investigators were able to confirm that nearly 400k plans were dental by matching plan IDs
— Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) November 20, 2014
We know we’re just a bunch of stupid American voters, but even we know that there’s a difference between medical and dental insurance.
If you're not impressed by O'care enrollment numbers just hang on, they'll give you a different set. http://t.co/7McJ3FHP63
— Brian Faughnan (@BrianFaughnan) November 20, 2014
https://twitter.com/NoahCRothman/status/535482446104756224
"Dammit. We're short half a million. What now? OOOOH. Add in dental plans!" http://t.co/QAnx6wmnBi #Gruber
— RBe (@RBPundit) November 20, 2014
You do what you’ve gotta do to make it work!
https://twitter.com/LDoren/status/535486906423713792
The government is full of liars: http://t.co/qAsO5CieEA
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) November 20, 2014
https://twitter.com/SethAMandel/status/535490410073059328
How many downward revisions in enrollment expectations before we agree O'care is NOT working?
— Brian Faughnan (@BrianFaughnan) November 20, 2014
@JonahNRO looks like they made it by the skin of a few hundred thousand teeth…
— Nick L. (@therealnick2) November 20, 2014
Hey-oh!
***
Update:
Ezra Klein: WH lied about O-care enrollments? Just an ‘unforced error,’ you guys!
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