Affordable Care Act Numbers Erroneously Calculated To Raise Subscribers Over 7 Million

Recently, the Obama administration reported that subscribers to the Affordable Care act surpassed more than 7 million individuals. Upon further investigation, it was found that the number was inflated by a number of dental subscribers that were erroneously added to the total. Upon admitting the mistake and adjusting the final numbers, the total subscribers fell to 6.7 million.

The number of actual subscribers is accurate as of October 15, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, states Bloomberg. The spokesperson, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, expressed her dismay on Twitter.

“The mistake we made is unacceptable. I will be communicating that clearly throughout the department.”

The erroneous error was discovered by Republican investigators for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The information that lead to the reporting error was obtained from data that originated from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Kevin Griffis, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, explained how the error occurred.

“A mistake was made in calculating the number of individuals with effectuated Marketplace enrollments. Individuals who had both Marketplace medical and dental coverage were erroneously counted in our recent announcements,”

According to the Washington Post, the Oversight Committee investigators had to ask for the data multiple times before they were able to discern there was an error. Representative Darrell Issa of California feels that the Obama administration is purposely hiding the information from the American public.

“This Administration still appears to be calling its Obamacare transparency plan from the Jonathan Gruber playbook: dismissing the American public’s right to know with the same deceptive arrogance that helped them pass the bill in the first place.”

The news comes after some felt Obamacare might come under attack if the GOP took the senate in the November elections. The Republican investigators of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee could use the findings of the erroneous error to begin the attack against the Affordable Care Act.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin feels that the deception, whether intentional or not, adds to the original Democratic deception surrounding the law’s passing in 2010, where claims were made that individuals could keep plans and doctors without worry of change.

“The No. 1 most effective message against the Affordable Care Act is: they lied to you to get it through. People believe that years now after its passage. The distrust is already there, and they’re doing nothing but exacerbate it.”

[Photo Courtesy: Davis Vanguard]