DHS releases ‘underwhelming’ numbers for Obamacare sign-ups

A paltry 3,500 Florida residents have been “enrolled” in Obamacare since the train-wreck rollout of the program started Oct. 1.

That’s a tiny number compared to the number of insurance policies the state and lost because of Obamacare. And it’s counting people who haven’t even paid a dime yet.

ocare1113According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 3,571 Florida residents were among just 106,000 who have signed up nationwide, about 20 percent of the number the Obama administration expected, according to Politico.

Florida Senate President Don Gaetz said the numbers were an “underwhelming” performance by an oversold program, especially in light of Florida Blue’s announcement in October that it was dropping about 300,000 insurance policies in Florida because they did not meet Obamacare standard.

“Let’s look at the balance sheet. After one month under Obamacare, 300,000 Floridians have lost coverage and 3,500 may or may not have purchased coverage,” Gaetz said in a statement released Wednesday.

“I’d venture to guess that since Oct. 1, more Floridians have signed up and paid for Netflix or online traffic school than Obamacare, and that’s without a taxpayer-funded sales force of hundreds of ‘navigators’ and a $190 million website.”

Because Florida – like 36 other states — did not cooperate with the Obama administration by forming its own health exchange, Florida residents who did enroll did so through Healthcare.gov, Politico reported.

About 80 percent of the people nationwide who enrolled did so through 14 states and the District of Columbia that established independent systems. Only about 26,800 people enrolled through the federal program.

As bad as the numbers are for an administration that’s staked its future on the “signature achievement” that bears the president’s name, they’re probably even worse than they look. For instance, the administration is using numbers that show only people who have selected a plan, not those who’ve actually paid for it.

“This must be the first time in history the manufacturer of a product has tried to count sales based on the number of people who have gone window shopping, or pressed ‘like’ on a company’s Facebook page,” Gaetz said. “That kind of performance is underwhelming by any standard.”

To make matters worse, the numbers were only broken down by state – averaging an only 744 per state enrolling through the federal website – rather than by age. That’s critical because Obamacare is depending on conning millions of young and health people to sign up for coverage to pay for older sicklier customers.

Those are the kind with the biggest incentive to be early enrollers – and the most expensive for insurance company customers.

As low as the Florida number is, it’s actually the highest for the states relying on the federal website. The second highest number was Texas, with 2,991.

In an interview with Bespeak Review on Wednesday, Republican Party of Florida spokeswoman Susan Hepworth called the Florida number “astounding,” compared to the policies the state has lost.

In a tweet, she wrote, “only 3,571 Floridians have been able 2 sign up 4 Obamacare – that means 85 times more Floridians have lost current coverage than signed up.”

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.
Joe Saunders

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

BPR INSIDER COMMENTS

Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!

Comments are closed.

Latest Articles