Why Are Obamacare Stats So Hard to Get?

How many people have signed up for Obamacare? You’d think it’d be easier to get an answer to such a simple question.

But no one knows how to answer, least of all the people who are supposed to have the information. Updates don’t come very often, and when they are given, they often contradict. For the public and policy makers to evaluate the law, they need to know what effect it’s having.

Politico reports,

it’s not just Republican opponents on the Hill insisting on change: Consumer groups, health experts and even strong Obamacare advocates are pushing for the administration to be more forthcoming. Journalists have also voiced frustration over the lack of timely and complete enrollment reports from a White House that pledged to be transparent.

Betsy Imholz, special projects director at Consumers Union, says the government should be held to the same standard that a private provider would. “Out in the real world, what we want is regular, transparent data so we can make good policy choices going forward — snapshots in time regularly.” So far, updates have been sporadic to say the least.

The Department of Health and Human Services tweeted once after the second season of enrollment opened. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to give monthly reports, while states like Massachusetts are giving daily counts on their exchanges. HHS also selectively chooses to give updates when the numbers make them look good.

The House Oversight Committee discovered that almost 400,000 dental plans were wrongly included in last year’s enrollment numbers, which means Obamacare did not actually meet its first-year goal.

One reason they can’t give numbers for the current enrollment is the back end of the website still hasn’t been fixed. Improvements focused on the side that the public could see, while the framework still doesn’t work properly.

The top priority for the Administration seems to be creating a positive impression of Obamacare’s effectiveness, while neglecting real numbers and facts of what is actually happening. Are they so afraid of the truth? Are they so ineffective that they just don’t know what is happening – but it must be good?

It’s enough to make you want to roll your eyes and throw up your hands. But we can’t stop demanding more from our government – especially one that promised to be transparent. It’s time to get their act together!