You’ve probably heard the number 106,000 bouncing around the tubes today. It represents the supposed number of Americans who have signed up for health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act.
Of course it’s not the most accurate indication of what October really looked like.
According to Jonathan Cohn, the total number of Americans who have submitted applications for coverage via Healthcare.gov and state exchanges? Try 1.5 million people, if you factor in households with multiple people receiving coverage — dependents and so forth, who, by the way, are included among the 30 million Americans without insurance prior to the ACA. Of that total, 1.4 million applications have been processed by the government. Whittled down further, Cohn reports that 106,000 applicants have chosen a plan and 396,000 have enrolled in Medicaid.
But, because there’s an “Obamacare is a Failed Policy” script that must be serviced, the lowest number of the batch has to be quoted. That’s why you’ve been reading about 106,000 rather than 1.5 million.
However, make no mistake, it’s actually still kind of low as is to be expected due to the flummoxed website. But as the months roll on and we get closer to the penalty at tax time, and as people break through the negative hype and discover that the ACA will actually help them, enrollment numbers will rise.
Twitter user @eclecticbrotha wondered today: “Did I forget to mention @bobcesca_go 24 Hour Rule For News has been in full effect on ACA enrollment figures?”
Well, there it is, and in 24 hours or less.