The so called story that is spreading like wildfire.. only 6 signed up for Obamacare in the 1st 24

[samrock]

First as I understand it... Many states had there own web site to sign up for Obamacare.. On these sites thousands signed up on the 1st day.. But the media does not seem to what to count those.. Can not let facts get in the way of a good story .. now can we? Each state was supposed to have its own site.. but because so many states with republican governors refused to participate all those states had to use the federal default site.. That site failed.. and what is ironic is the congress failed to allocate more money to make that site more robust as it became apparent the load that site was going to need to be able to handle.. HHS asked, pleaded, begged for more money to make that site better.. but money was refused.. Is it amazing.. the republicans planned and executed a rip off of the American people.. yet due to a lazy media get almost no blame..

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3959434

[ProdigalJunkMail]

2. again... all HHS needs to do to stomp this story is show a simple report

indicating the number of 'unique visitors' to healthcare.gov... who cares how many signed up, if the website was having problems it could well have been volume. and if that is the case, then just show the report and shut down the argument about '6 signed up'...

sP

[Mass]

3. Only stupid people push this (and not signed up. the report says enrolled)

First, Obamacare refers I guess to the exchange, not Medicaid expansion or something like that.

Second, people think before they commit to enrolling in something. So only people who think that people are stupid would think they would enroll the first day.

[cali]

13. only profoundly idiotic people without so much as a couple of brain cells firing

refuse to acknowledge facts.

and no, it's decidedly not stupid to expect people to sign up on the first day.

[dsc]

16. actually it kind of would be odd for them to do so

this is an expensive major decision that they have months to make. I am not in a position to use the exchange but took a look anyway and I would have had well over a dozen policies from which to choose. I can easily see wanting to print out the policies and look at the numbers, taking time to decide which is likely to be the better deal in the end.

[geek tragedy]

20. Pay for insurance they won't get to use for three months, and for which they can

wait until December 15 to buy when they know their finances better?

[Pretzel_Warrior]

24. It is dumb to expect it

Sorry you think differently.

[Skidmore]

4. Wonder if Big Insurance advertising dollars

had anything to do with it.

[Mass]

6. Bad reporting is responsible for that. Some idiots confuse enroll and sign up

From Fox own report

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/31/internal-notes-indicate-only-6-people-signed-up-for-obamacare-on-first-day/

Fox News' Ed Henry told Megyn Kelly on “The Kelly File” Thursday that the documents, released by committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, are not official enrollment numbers, but say that as of the morning of Oct. 2, “six enrollments have occurred so far with five different issuers.”

[liberal N proud]

5. Facts are not important when you are smearing someone or something

I saw this on a local ABC affiliate news program this AM.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

7. Back in 1935....

I wonder how many people signed up for Social Security in the first six hours?

My point is, who gives a rat's ass? Twenty years from now, we'll have comprehensive health care for all Americans (maybe even a single payer system by then), and nobody will remember who signed up for what in the first six hours.

[B Calm]

8. It's a FOX news story

[RockaFowler]

11. It was on ABC & NBC as well

It's such a non-story it's almost laughable

[Laurian]

9. All I needed to hear was the name Issa to dismiss this.

[warrior1]

10. who cares

it was just the first day. There will be many days after that to sign up.

what a waste of ink

[JaneyVee]

12. Didn't the website crash 10 minutes after opening?

[frazzled]

14. I wouldn't buy a complex insurance product 3 months in advance

of its start date.

Why doesn't it surprise me that millions didn't purchase their policies in the first day or two? The policies don't go into effect until January 2014, and there are a lot of options and issues to consider in taking such a step. Especially for those who have never been insured.

I remember when Medicare Part D went into effect: it took us months to decide on what plan to purchase for my husband's mother. It was complex, confusing, and scary. It took lots of research to decide which policy had formularies that covered the drugs she was on, which best suited her other insurance, etc. We took our time.

This is not to say that the web site wasn't experiencing lots of problems, but this is just such a non-story on so many levels.

[gopiscrap]

15. fucking media is nothing but corporations and the repukes are in their pockets

so of course the narrative on corporate tv is going to be "fail" when it's done by a Democratic administration. Truth to them or the repukes doesn't matter.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

17. All of the concern trolling over ACA (not by the OP but by the media)

is getting tiresome. What irks me more is that instead of talking about what might be done to make things better, the stories seem to imply that the whole law is a mess and that it should never have happened in the first place. I'll be the first to admit that it ain't perfect but changing around a previously failed system for a lot of people takes some time and effort. The media and the Republicans just want to deep-six everything and, I guess, go back to what we had before?


My wife was watching a breathtaking CNN report on how few insurers there were participating in the exchanges.......in smaller states. Well duh! They're smaller states!

[krispos42]

18. I saw it on CNBC this morning

My uncle was watching it this morning. We had a death in the family, and he was staying over after the funeral.

He was watching it while exercising, and I saw the story on the TV. Neither of us really watched it; he's a teacher and he was griping about standardized testing and teacher accountability stuff.

I figured it was bullshit. glad to see I was right.

[PasadenaTrudy]

19. In the Los Angeles Times too

I didn't even bother to read it

[alc]

21. ignore the spin

If it had been 1 million signed up the first day the spin would be the other way and we honestly wouldn't have any more idea of the eventual success than we do now. Both sides are going to spin whatever they can.

We won't know anything for a long time. There will be lot of spin again in Jan 2014 when people start to use their coverage. Ignore that too (whichever way it goes) - some people will get care for the first time in years or ever and be thrilled while other people will be really pissed off for a variety of reasons. In 6-8 months we will probably get some relatively unspun reports of how many people signed up and how satisfied they are.

And more spin next October when 2015 enrollment starts. Then we'll see which insurers want to keep offering on the exchange and what rates the regulators allow. There will be tons of spin then also with elections right around the corner.

The worst thing that could happen is for the administration to try to spin things as much better than they are. You don't want voters next october thinking "what the hell happened. I thought everything was going great". With the web site issues and delayed deadline, there is a very real chance that healthy people don't sign up until March and the result will be some insurers dropping out of the exchange and rates going up next October. Obama shouldn't be talking about that now, but needs to be saying things over the next year that won't lead to major disappointment then. If things go great over the next few months that communication plan can change (e.g. start bragging).

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. So what?

Media chasers care, while serious people working on policy continue with their work. This is sideshow for morons, and of little consequence.

[alp227]

23. how could it be a couple weeks back, the AP reported 476k enrolled?

AP sources: 476,000 Obamacare applications filed