The numbers are coming in — and it’s looking like fewer than 50,000 people have enrolled in the federal exchange and about 100,000 people in the country at large. Whenever official numbers are released, bet on two things. First, as Allahpundit says in the link above:
Fearless prediction: They’re not going to release the demographic data. The only way to make these numbers look more dismal than they are is if it turns out that many, or even most, of the 100,000 who’ve enrolled are older people or people with preexisting conditions.
Second, they are going to count as “enrollees” people who have a plan sitting in their shopping cart, whether it has been purchased or not:
When the Obama administration releases health law enrollment figures later this week, though, it will use a more expansive definition. It will count people who have purchased a plan as well as those who have a plan sitting in their online shopping cart but have not yet paid.
“In the data that will be released this week, ‘enrollment’ will measure people who have filled out an application and selected a qualified health plan in the marketplace,” said an administration official, who requested anonymity to frankly describe the methodology.
I have about ten items sitting in my shopping cart at Amazon right now. They have been moved to a “save for later” category, I guess because I have not bought them and may never buy them. Some of them have been there for months. When I check out with other items, I get little notifications telling me that the price has changed on some of them. I sincerely doubt Amazon counts these items in their sales figures, and if they did, that would be fraud.
These people are lying to you, constantly. Speaking of which:
For those of you who were not reading over the weekend, let me exit this post by offering you a chance to participate in this READER POLL!!!