Patterico's Pontifications

11/13/2013

The ObamaCare “Enrollment” Numbers Are In!

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:03 pm



And they’re pretty good! For the federal web site, it looks like about 24 people “enrolled” per state per day. That is not a typo. 24. As in two dozen.

Remember: that counts people who put plans in their shopping cart but didn’t buy them. So even the stunningly embarrassing numbers are phony.

We are in the very best of hands.

Panic is setting in, as Obama & Co. scramble to “fix” the central feature of the law: making people lose their plans so they can pay more for the sicker people. Meanwhile, Republicans are including their own “fixes” which (I think) is a mistake.

There is one fix: repeal. That is the fix. There is no other fix.

UPDATE: Hilarious — and true:

That’s accurate — at least when you look at the healthcare.gov numbers. There were 34,435 signatures on the death star petition. There have been 26,794 people who signed up for ObamaCare though healthcare.gov.

73 Responses to “The ObamaCare “Enrollment” Numbers Are In!”

  1. Twitter: More people have bought Sharknado on Blu-Ray than enrolled in Obamacare.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  2. this whole obamacare idea is plum retarded

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  3. I am always amused by the lefty talking point that the right has not presented an alternative plan.

    So, let’s get this out of the way. The GOP has indeed offered alternative plans.

    However, why in the world would the right offer a plan to counter a plan it never wanted in the first place?

    I remember when the President was running for his first term. Universal health care was not a big platform point. If I remember correctly, he ran on hope and change and not being W.

    After he was elected, he was all about fundamentally changing the United States, but health care was not a big deal until Nancy Pelosi woke up from a botox injection and decided it was time to screw up something new since she was the Speaker and all.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  4. they seem to have left out the thermal exhausr port to the reactor, again,

    narciso (3fec35)

  5. Now Republicans should stand aside and let it unfold.

    DO NOT grant a one-year delay. Let voters feel the pain in ’14.

    Remember when Obama let citizens feel the pain of the shutdown?

    AZ Bob (ade845)

  6. Just as an aside, Reza Aslan, PhD., is on History Channel right now spouting his theories on those stupid lying writers of the New Testament. Oh, yeah, the virgin birth is a mistranslation. As a matter of fact, every expert on the show says the whole Bible is mistranslated. The show is called “Bible Secrets Revealed.”

    So take that you stupid, knuckle-dragging racists.

    I remember when History was the Hitler Channel. Good times.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  7. It’s all Priory of Sion, and Mega Disasters now,

    narciso (3fec35)

  8. The Death Star would have been cheaper.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  9. i have a coupon for bogo death stars

    foodstampcare on the other hand I can’t even qualify for a subsidy cause I have a stupid job

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  10. The Republicans should be talking about the 50 million who will have to change their work policies in 2015, and especially about the changes to provider networks.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  11. Republicans also ought to be asking whether a President who has lied so profoundly to the people about something so important can continue in office. Bill Clinton lied about sex and had a rocky time. It is hard to see how Obama can recover credibility.

    While it is unlikely he can be impeached and convicted, it is not beyond imagination that he could resign. Nixon might or might not have been convicted — there were enough Republicans to prevent it — but he had lost all ability to govern and tehre was really no point in hanging out.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  12. #9: Building two Death Stars is not all that more expensive than building one…

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  13. Back on topic. We all know the disaster of healthcare.gov. It doesn’t work and it is unlikely it will by Dec. 1.

    However, would the numbers have been any better if healthcare.gov had worked perfectly?

    I know the administration tells us that millions of people overwhelmed a lousy system because they wanted government insurance more than life itself.

    We can’t know that, nor will we ever, because the government has decided to lie about everything.

    However, I have to wonder what would have happened in a perfect IT world where everything worked the first time. Was the only problem with Obamacare a dysfunctional interface?

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  14. In fairness, no one had to pay to vote for a Death Star.

    I think I am seeing a pattern.

    Jack (a1d158)

  15. Another very good question.

    Do these things just come to you? Do you eat something spicy for supper? What?

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  16. I thought Biden was assassination insurance. I wonder if he is impeachment insurance as well.

    Jack (a1d158)

  17. However, I have to wonder what would have happened in a perfect IT world where everything worked the first time. Was the only problem with Obamacare a dysfunctional interface?

    Well, it would have been cleaner, but still you have 5 million people who could not keep their old policy, and more importantly, their doctors. The exhange-based networks are much smaller due the influx of really sick people who the insurance companies MUST lose large amounts of money on. They can only hike prices so far, so the other end is to cut costs. Out go the expensive doctors and hospitals, leaving they ones willing to take small payments.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  18. I thought Biden was assassination insurance. I wonder if he is impeachment insurance as well.

    How would he be worse, exactly?

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  19. 11. I vote we give him Aaron’s punishment in Titus Andronicus.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  20. i hate obamacare and now it’s starting to just bore me how stupid it is

    this pathetic country has more than enough problems without making stupid foodstampcare ones up for no good reason

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  21. I’ve fallen, and I don’t want to get up

    pdbuttons (72864d)

  22. narciso,
    you must be one tough character to stand reading that stuff
    or deranged
    or a masochist
    or a deranged masochistic tough character

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  23. I went on a job interview today. The company had 55 employees three years ago. As people have left, they have not been replaced, and the headcount is now at 45. The company’s GM explicitly told me that those who have left have not been replaced to keep the employee count below 50 because of Obamacare. The ACA has been depressing this company’s hiring for THREE YEARS.

    Diffus (4a5ca6)

  24. If you really think about it, we have a crisis in the government because by the government’s own admission, a small percentage of the nation’s populace did not have a access to a market product.

    And the only solution was to restructure the largest economy in the world?

    Obama did not think too big. He thought too small.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  25. It was in the Yahoo net, like dolphins with the tuna,

    http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/362967/whittaker-chambers-blame-tea-party-jonah-goldberg

    narciso (3fec35)

  26. The ACA has been depressing this company’s hiring for THREE YEARS.

    Obamacare perhaps is this era’s variation of the absurdly high income taxes that existed during the Great Depression of the 1930s, 1940s.

    It wasn’t that long ago when I didn’t fully understand the crucial reason why the US’s economy had been stuck in low gear indefinitely from the time of the Great Stock Market crash of 1929 to the outbreak of WWII. But then when I learned that income taxes had been ratcheted up to the 80-percentile range, first by Republican Herbert Hoover and then by liberal Franklin Roosevelt — and that FDR liked the idea of raising them even higher, to the 90s — I wanted to proclaim to the supposed experts who had long been puzzled by the intractability of the Great Depression: Well, duh!!

    Mark (58ea35)

  27. Add to that Hoover cut the capital flows with Smoot Hawley, this is how a severe recession, became a global depression,

    narciso (3fec35)

  28. They are flying right into the turbo lasers;

    narciso, you must be one tough character to stand reading that stuff

    I’m tempted to click on the link he’s posted, but since I don’t want my blood pressure to skyrocket, I think I’ll pass it by.

    Mark (58ea35)

  29. That’s why I comment on the piece, before to illustrate it’s absurdity, my fishwrap offers much of the same, with Leonard Pitts offering a rare critique of the implementation, but not the goal of the policy.

    narciso (3fec35)

  30. became a global depression,

    Beyond just the economic factors, this period in human history, at least to me, is taking on an increasingly odd, dark, moment-before-the-fall quality. But I’m not sure if I’m just being too cynical and skeptical, perhaps overly susceptible to predictions of foreboding I’m hearing from certain quarters. Then again, if someone not all that long ago had described to me the details of Obama, and claim he’d somehow manage to become the US’s president, I’d have scoffed that was a bunch of BS and as ludicrous as a script straight out of a hokey Hollywood move.

    Mark (58ea35)

  31. Well one could refer to some of Charles McCarry’s
    work, specially Better Angels, or some of Drury’s
    darker musings, like Come Nineveh come Tyre, No crisis has been dealt in this way, recently since the 30s, and we see the result,

    narciso (3fec35)

  32. Wag the Dog Redux

    Beware another Barack Obama excellent foreign adventure.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  33. darker musings

    FWIW — and don’t snicker when I post the following — but a few months ago I read a book by a guy named Joseph McMoneagle, titled “Memoirs of a Psychic Spy,” regarding his years working for the US military as a “remote viewer,” otherwise known to the layman as a psychic or clairvoyant. My original impression was that the author was merely a shyster, a hoaxer, and that his tome would be full of crappola. Then after reading it, and seeing all the apparently credible and verifiable sources and background, I went, “OMG, what the hell is going on out there!? Can truth really be stranger than fiction! Maybe so.”

    Things like that along with the unbelievable, absurdly disreputable story of the guy now in the White House has so chipped away at much of my original skepticism, that I now have to guard against my becoming gullible.

    Mark (58ea35)

  34. However, would the numbers have been any better if healthcare.gov had worked perfectly?

    @13 Comment by Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 11/13/2013 @ 7:52 pm

    Yes, there really are people who cannot afford insurance, or who can barley afford it, that would benefit from an ideal Obamacare ( about 17 million). A free product or service almost always increases demand for it.

    There are poor people who will benefit, rich people who will not really be affected, and the middle class that is going to get creamed. The Obama administration’s own numbers predict that over 100 million people will lose their current (aka, grandfathered) coverage (source, here on page 34,552, last paragraph, you will need to do math, or here, where Forbes figured it all out). Save for those who are able to enroll in medicare, the rest will not qualify for subsidies and will either be forced into more expensive plans (premiums and deductibles) for no matching gain, or simply not enroll in any new plan, but pay tax penalties instead

    In short, it is a transfer of wealth from almost the entirety of the middle class to a portion of the poor: from 100 million to 17 million, or about a 5 to 1 ratio.

    Obamacare is horrid because it will kill the golden goose and shrink the middle class and, in short order, create a dependent class that will grow across generations, no different than public housing, food stamps, etc — which have always increased across the generations. As the ability of the middle class to sustain this decreases, more poor, less resources, less hope…Detroit.

    There are better solutions to helping the poor with regard to health care, but Obamacare was never about helping the poor whatsoever, just using them as pawns in a power struggle rather than helping fellow human beings in need, for the goal of single-party (single-payer is just a tactic to single-party rule).

    Currently 5 million have already lost their insurance. At best, about 10% of that number is construed as being enrolled (fed, state, or medicare, which accounts for just under 400,000 people).

    Pons Asinorum (8ce71a)

  35. Oh, forgot to add that this is precisely why the Democrats are going to lose in 2016 (if the Republicans do not blow it in the primary), and probably 2014 as well.

    The MSM can spin all they want to, but over a 100 million people are getting hurt and many of them will have not choice but to vote against Democrats, even if they have to plug their collective nose.

    It is almost inevitable.

    Pons Asinorum (8ce71a)

  36. Just need about 5 million votes in 2016, given pop growth and if the same % of Democrats vote for their ticket.

    My math — so, maybe not inevitable, but this is not going to be good for the Democrats.

    Pons Asinorum (8ce71a)

  37. Hewitt had an MIT econ prof on who illustrated two things:
    1) he thought the hardships of the marginally affluent (my term) people getting creamed were justified by the greater social good
    (I love humanity, it’s people I can’t stand, or care about)
    2) he believed that repubs were against ObamaCare because they were afraid it would work and reinforce democratic power- projection and the belief in the inability that some people actually are honest and tell the truth

    shocking, absolutely shocking, I say

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  38. When Obamacare is still circling the toilet drain on November 30, AND IT WILL BE, what will the LIBTARD talking points be???

    Gus (70b624)

  39. However, would the numbers have been any better if healthcare.gov had worked perfectly?
    AG80.

    That was priceless. IF!!

    Gus (70b624)

  40. MD — for an econ prof, that is just sad…and rubbish.

    But this confuses me:

    “…justified by the greater social good”

    If he believed that, then he would be against Obamacare.

    Pons Asinorum (8ce71a)

  41. MD, a Marxist Econ Professor from MIT. That is comedy gold. It’s interesting that Commies, do not build anything, they merely tear things down. The successful who have created a much more affluent society and a much BIGGER PIE of ECONOMY, must be punished in order to create pain for ALL TO SHARE.
    Yet the Marxist Econ tenured Professor still expects his paycheck, health insurance and COMFY RETIREMENT.

    Gus (70b624)

  42. Has it occurred to anyone, that the profound eff-up known as Obama, has zero interest in a vibrant economy? Obamie, the Commie, has made being a LOSER and DEAD BEAT, as comfortable for the few as it NOW IS for the MANY. The BAD ECONOMY either creates more Obamie Commies, or it creates dependence for those who WOULD WORK. Either way, the TEARING DOWN of a Capitalist Economy is furthered. And that is what Obama wants.

    Gus (70b624)

  43. One thing good to come out of this: a lot of people will be able to write a lot of books over the next century.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  44. Shorter MIT prof: “You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs.”

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  45. Beware another Barack Obama excellent foreign adventure.

    Too bad for Guatemala, then.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  46. Kevin. Beware another Barack Obama EGGSellent foreign adventure!!
    Obama is a JOKE outside of the U.S., and he could have been successful. All that NARCISSISTIC PATHOLOGICAL, SELF/LOVE got in the way!!!

    Gus (70b624)

  47. I just came to the realization that part of the fail is because it’s from the Democrats.
    No, I’m not saying that they’re stupid (they may be, but that’s irrelevant to this little aspect I’m discussing).
    And I’m not saying they’re malicious (see previous disclaimer).

    The Dems claim that the GOP is the party of middle-aged WASP males. Obviously this is incorrect, because that’s maybe an eighth of the electorate. But it reflects the way the Democrats think:
    that to appeal to a group, you find and add their special interest to your policy.
    This results in legislation that consists of pandering to at least a dozen different groups, with the real meaning left to the bureaucrats.

    And from that, you get a tangled mess that cannot be implemented well.

    Ibidem (804885)

  48. Ibidem. LOGIC and REASON are your friends. Logic and reason will SHOW YOU, what is right, and what is wrong, but MORESO, LOGIC and REASON, will tell you THAT WHICH IS POSSIBLE.

    Gus (70b624)

  49. This ENTIRE MONTROSITY, known as the AFFORDABLE CARE ACT aka Obamacare…..is ORWELLIAN my friend. Ibidem, THE ENTIRE CONCEPT of Obamacare/the AFFORDABLE CARE ACT……has been a LIE and a CON JOB of MOST EPIC PROPORTIONS.

    Gus (70b624)

  50. Only Government could create such an unmitigated disaster as this.
    Ain’t Socialism Wonderful!

    askeptic (2bb434)

  51. Only a John Roberts could eff this up worse than the obamass.

    mg (31009b)

  52. Well it is where Chomsky hangs his hat, so no big surprise,

    narciso (3fec35)

  53. And Paul Samuelson, for the longest time.

    narciso (3fec35)

  54. Excellent Goldberg column.

    As for my wife and I, we’ve clothed, fed, educated and raised three children and helped them get on the road to productive lives and prosperity. We don’t agree with the notion that we should lose the healthcare or anything else we’ve worked for so that we may support people who refuse to take responsibility for themselves, their lives or their progeny.

    If that’s a selfish attitude, then we’re selfish.

    Colonel Haiku (39ac34)

  55. This is not teh healthcare you were looking for. Move along…

    Colonel Haiku (39ac34)

  56. 56-Col.- My wife and I are selfish on all counts. Getting two kids through college and into the workforce was easier than it is going to be for my daughters.
    Obama and his disciples need to be prosecuted.

    mg (31009b)

  57. Good to see Goldberg enjoying this, With the proper pressure from team r, this could change the political climate the republicans so desperately need. Go for the throat GOP.

    mg (31009b)

  58. Enriching themselves and their cronies in the Banana Republic tradition, mg.

    Colonel Haiku (59727e)

  59. The lack of serial trolls recently is very telling!

    Amalgamated Cliff Divers, Local 157 (f7d5ba)

  60. 26. Ace termed this ‘wishcasting’. And, yes, that’s exactly why narciso linked the desperation.

    Incumbency is a liability.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)


  61. Now Republicans should stand aside and let it unfold.

    DO NOT grant a one-year delay. Let voters feel the pain in ’14.

    Remember when Obama let citizens feel the pain of the shutdown?

    Comment by AZ Bob (ade845) — 11/13/2013 @ 7:28 pm

    As the Obama Administration taught us:

    “Don’t let a crisis go to waste.”

    AZ Bob (ade845)

  62. 63. Definitely there is a downside to legislating relief.

    Ogabe has unilaterally, extra-legally granted himself relief.

    He flatly refused legal help with the Slowdown/Ceiling fix.

    Giving yourself cover can blow up in your face quicker than Upton can say “Ima dumbsh*t”.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  63. I’m guessing the main reason for the following is that a small town in Kansas is not sophisticated and progressive enough. Too many Tea Partiers reside in such places, perhaps? Get with the program, you hayseeds!

    pompeo.house.gov, via hotair.com:

    Today, Congressman Mike Pompeo, R-Kansas, released communications he received from Ty Lasher, the city manager of Bel Aire, Kansas, describing the terrible impact of the Affordable Care Act on city workers. [T]he city manager of Bel Aire, Kansas, revealed that city’s 30+ employees have just received notice that because of the Affordable Care Act, their current insurance will no longer be available. The text of the email is below:

    “Bel Aire is a small city of approximately 7,000 residents. We have about 30 full-time employees and a number of part-time staff that are all very attached and dedicated to our organization. We just received notice that the health-insurance coverage employees receive through Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) is no longer available.

    “Now, BCBS offers other plans that we can choose from based on the government’s standards. All offer higher deductibles and the two closest to our old plan each cost more than what we were paying. In addition, because we are under 50 employees, we no longer get a ‘group’ rate so everyone is being judged as a single.

    “We have some long-term employees who are older and seeing their rates double. We are also seeing families paying more based on the number of children they have. We had a couple of employees who worked 20 hours a week and the city still allowed them on our health coverage plan.

    “Now, BCBS said they will not cover anyone unless they work more than 30 hours per week. Therefore, those part-time employees will now lose their health coverage. To top it off, we were told if more than 25% of our ineligible employees choose to go elsewhere for their insurance, they will drop us, and all of our employees will have to go to the insurance exchange.

    Mark (58ea35)

  64. They tired of teh EPIC FAIL, acd…

    Colonel Haiku (61a8ce)

  65. Amoral business, meanwhile, is sitting on piles of cash:

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-13/something-very-wrong-picture

    /sarc off

    This is Lehman, the Sequel.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  66. Well, the good news is that at the current rate of enrollment it will only take 5.6 years to reach the government’s first-year target of 7 million enrollments.

    Icy (e9047b)

  67. Quelle surprise!

    http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2012/06/mossad-stuxnet-is-our-baby-obama.html

    Oh, but he’s good at killing people.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  68. Again, via Larwyn.

    http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=13289

    The how of rapprochement with Saudi Arabia.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  69. 43.Has it occurred to anyone, that … Obama, has zero interest in a vibrant economy?
    Comment by Gus (70b624) — 11/13/2013 @ 10:00 pm

    Yes, yes it has.
    I suppose if one had a vibrant economy to give more stuff away and make more people dependent he wouldn’t mind it.
    But vibrant economy is not a priority
    no matter what he says
    When he says he is “focusing on job growth” it is kind of like saying “you can keep your insurance if you like it”.

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  70. 10. Comment by Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 11/13/2013 @ 7:47 pm

    the changes to provider networks.

    It’s unbelieveable, or almost unbelievable anyway, the way Obama considers all doctors fungible. Jusr like IT people.

    Sammy Finkelman (d7b491)


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