Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Administration announces 7.3 million paid Obamacare enrollments, Republicans whine


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/19/1330878/-Administration-announces-7-3-million-paid-Obamacare-enrollments-Republicans-whine?detail=email7

Darrell Issa

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa held yet another "oversight" hearing on Thursday, trying to find something, anything that smelled like an Obamacare scandal. Instead, he got the gut-punch of finding out that there are officially 7.3 million paid up enrollees, beating the Congressional Budget Office's prediction of 6 million.
"As of Aug. 15 this year, we have 7.3 million Americans enrolled in health insurance marketplace coverage and these are individuals who paid their premiums. We are encouraged by the number of consumers who paid their premiums and continue to enroll in the marketplace coverage every day through special enrollment periods," [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn] Tavenner said. […]
Compared to the enrollment total of 8 million detailed in a May report about the sign-up period that began last October, the retention rate for private Obamacare coverage would be more than 90 percent.
However, because people have been allowed to buy health insurance on the exchanges since then under special circumstances, such as marriage or the birth of a child, the count of people who were enrolled at any given time this year likely rose higher than 8 million.
 Republicans in the hearing tried to downplay the number (and Politico dutifully reports their skepticism) with a  "yeah, but" kind of rejoinder. Issa tried to say the 7.3 figure was a "precipitous drop," (ignoring that it beat his own projection) and Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) said that for "the past five months, the administration has been silent on enrollment details for the president’s healthcare law, and now we know why: the number was going down." Nice try there, boys, but that's one dead talking point.

his own party won't stop the madness it's up to us one sure way don't open the door for republicans then they loose control of those purse strings they controlled by tried to say Pres. wanted blank checks, no such thing in that venue because they congress has final say and they are the ones not only with the purse strings but the pen they signed those authorizations with not Pres. stop them and the deficit will go down just from having no more witch hunts party of fiscal responsibility another bald faced lie.