Obamacare enrollment tops six millionas deadline looms

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

(Reuters) - More than 6 million people have now signed up for private insurance plans under President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law known as Obamacare, reflecting a surge in enrollments days before the March 31 deadline, the White House said on Thursday.

The milestone gives the White House some ammunition to use against Republican critics, who have described the program as a flop in the build-up to midterm congressional campaigns in November, when Democratic control of the U.S. Senate is at stake.

Only 10 days ago, the administration had pegged enrollment at more than 5 million people, and enlisted celebrities and top government officials to try to persuade more uninsured people - particularly the young and healthy - to sign up.

The last-minute boost has exceeded the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's estimate that 6 million people would sign up in the program's first year, down from earlier expectations of 7 million enrollees because of problems with websites used for shopping for insurance.

...

"We are starting to see younger consumers at a higher rate here towards the end of March," said Kurt Kossen, vice president of retail marketing at Health Care Service Corp, a holding company for Blue Cross Blue Shield in Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Kossen said his company has seen an increase in enrollment over the past two weeks, with more calls to sales centers and online purchases.

On HealthCare.gov, the website used to sign up for insurance in 36 states, traffic has been heavy.

The White House said the site had more than 1.5 million visits on Wednesday, while call centers received more than 430,000 calls, the White House said.

Monday and Tuesday also saw more than 1 million visits to the website and more than 350,000 calls to call centers, according to posts on Twitter by HealthCare.gov.

[Robby999 1,024]

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

You people were wrong. Get over it!

[Janelle2002 3,865]

Ow lord. Why did you post this? ll the Obama haters will come out of hiding once again.

[Robby999 1,024]

Those 2 guys in the background almost busted out laughing when he gave that lame excuse. Oh we're sorry, but apparently Americans are too stupid to figure out this new fangled internet thingie ma jiggie so we will delay again the deadline so our base can get onboard!

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Ow lord. Why did you post this? ll the Obama haters will come out of hiding once again.

They're slow. It's why they keep losing.

[Janelle2002 3,865]

They're slow. It's why they keep losing.

[Robby999 1,024]

[Pooky 3,805]

Dingy Harry, at it again.

The man is an embarrassment. Not that McConnell is any better, but the sooner this obstructionist crook is removed as Senate majority leader, the better.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Dingy Harry, at it again.

The man is an embarrassment. Not that McConnell is any better, but the sooner this obstructionist crook is removed as Senate majority leader, the better.

Reid the obstructionist crook? I'd like to take a few puffs from whatever you're smoking.

[catdog 1]

One month after he said that Obamacare horror stories were “lies,” Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) now claims that he never said anything of the sort.

In a vain attempt to control reality, Reid took to the Senate floor yesterday and completely denied his previous statement that every Obamacare horror story in America was “untrue.”

“Mr. President [of the Senate], the junior Senator from Wyoming has come to the floor several times recently talking about the fact that examples that he and other Republicans have given, dealing with Obamacare, examples that they think are bad, I’ve called lies,” he stated. “Mr. President, that is simply untrue.”

“I have never come to the floor, to my recollection, and I never said a word about any of the examples that Republicans have given regarding Obamacare and how it’s not very good.”

Contast this to his statement one month prior:

Despite all that good news, there’s plenty of horror stories being told. All of them are untrue, but they’re being told all over America.

The leukemia patient whose insurance policy was canceled [and] could die without her medication, Mr. President, that’s an ad being paid for by two billionaire brothers. It’s absolutely false. Or the woman whose insurance policy went up $700 a month–ads paid for around America by the multibillionaire Koch brothers, and the ad is false.

We heard about the evils of Obamacare, about the lives it’s ruining in Republicans’ stump speeches and in ads paid for by oil magnates, the Koch brothers. But in those tales, turned out to be just that: tales, stories made up from whole cloth, lies distorted by the Republicans to grab headlines or make political advertisements.

It’s an extremely common strategy – one that dates back to antiquity – for corrupt politicians to constantly lie, lie, lie and then deny, deny, deny, giving them the illusion that they control reality.

And Reid is about as power hungry and corrupt as they come.

Yesterday it was reported that he gave his granddaughter $17,000 in campaign funds as a “holiday gift” and only admitted to it after intense scrutiny by the Federal Election Commission.

Reid announced that he would reimburse the money, but it’s obvious that he’s only doing so after being exposed.

And, going back to the horrors of Obamacare, the Senate’s top Democrat blamed Americans who weren’t “educated on how to use the Internet” for Obamacare’s abysmal enrollment numbers, not the faulty exchange web sites or the health law’s numerous other problems.

[Pooky 3,805]

And, going back to the horrors of Obamacare, the Senates top Democrat blamed Americans who werent educated on how to use the Internet for Obamacares abysmal enrollment numbers, not the faulty exchange web sites or the health laws numerous other problems.

Because calling the very people you need to bail out your crappy healthcare confidence trick stupid is such a great way to go.

The man is such an embarrassment, he's currently making Joe Biden look good.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

And all of your right wing echo chamber nonsense cannot mask the fact that Obamacare has over 6 million enrollees, thus exceeding the most recent initial enrollment estimate from the CBO.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I will say this. I supported PPACA and still do, but my experience with trying to get enrolled in a state that joined in the expansion, creating a marketplace has been an exercise in total frustration. There are definite kinks to iron out and I'm uneasy about the partnership between state and fed in implementing this. For example, when applying for the federal tax rebate, a stepchild is counted as a dependent, but for the state's medicaid qualifications, they do not count stepchildren as dependents. It's crazy.

[LibCampFireClub 635]

And all of your right wing echo chamber nonsense cannot mask the fact that Obamacare has over 6 million enrollees, thus exceeding the most recent initial enrollment estimate from the CBO.

This unverifiable number to which you refer are the same as window shoppers on Amazon.com. They put something in their shopping basket and have no intention to pay for it. Ahhhh, if the website--created in the name of: Skinny-Weak-0bama, only worked half as good as Amazon. You actually think these folks will pay for it when they find out it isn't free?

Edited March 28, 2014 by ExExpat