Jimmy Fallon Mocks Obamacare Enrollment Goal On ‘The Tonight Show’ [Video]

Jimmy Fallon slammed the Obamacare hoopla about the health insurance law supposedly reaching 7 million enrollees in government-approved insurance.

The enrollment total is one about which many others have expressed skepticism despite the administration’s victory lap this week as the official enrollment deadline has come and gone.

Said The Tonight Show Host about the Obamacare sign-ups:

That’s right, the White House said that it surpassed its goal for people enrolled in Obamacare. It’s amazing what you can achieve when you make something mandatory and fine people if they don’t do it. And then keep extending the deadline for months. It’s like a Cinderella story. It’s just a beautiful thing. You make everyone do it. Isn’t it great how many people do it? But if you still haven’t enrolled, you might have to pay a penalty called the individual shared responsibility payment, which is 1% of your salary. Then Americans said, ‘Man, good thing I don’t have a job.'”

Even though Fallon — like most high-profile entertainers — is generally considered to be a liberal Democrat, this is not the first time that he has taken a shot at Obamacare. Last month, for example, he played Vladimir Putin in a Tonight Show skit about a fictional cellphone conversation with President Obama over the Ukraine crisis and the invasion of Crimea. When the Obama impersonator said “Look, don’t you see what you’re doing though? You’re forcing people to accept something that the majority of them don’t even want.” Responded Fallon/Putin: “Yes, in Russia we have a word for this: Obamacare.”

In a recent poll, Obamacare a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act, had an approval rate of just 26 percent.

The skepticism about the supposed 7 million sign-ups is due among other things to the fact that an untold number of consumers have not actually paid their first premium. Said political commentator Charles Krauthammer: “These numbers that they are touting are phony numbers … That’s like saying anybody who goes on Amazon, orders a nifty stereo set, puts it in the shopping cart, has purchased the stereo set. I assure you it’s not going to show up at your house until you pay for it.”

Columnist Shikha Dalmia similarly advised the Obama White House to go easy on the champagne:”So, to recap: Obamacare has extended coverage to a far smaller portion of the uninsured than expected, caused millions of others to lose coverage, raised out-of-pocket costs for many middle-income consumers, diminished patient choice of doctors and hospitals and exposed Americans to future premium hikes. This is why Americans are not popping the cork. Nor should the administration.”

[Jimmy Fallon image credit: Vivanista1]