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Ted Cruz: HHS used “funny numbers” for its ObamaCare enrollment claims
Hotair ^ | 04/14/2014 | Ed Morrissey

Posted on 04/14/2014 12:04:44 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Count Ted Cruz among the unimpressed about the HHS claim that over seven million Americans enrolled in ObamaCare by the end of the open-enrollment deadline. Javier Manjarres conducted a short telephone interview with Sen. Cruz, pointing out an earlier story broken by talk radio host Drew Steele about notification letters from HHS of ObamaCare auto-enrollment and questioned whether those were part of the HHS calculations. Cruz called this part of the mystery around the “funny numbers” coming out of the Obama administration, and wondered how many of the 7.1 million were only partial sign-ups:

CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO

The letter illustrates two things. Number one, that the Obama administration is using funny numbers when it is touting the enrollment numbers, it has failed to distinguish between those who just signed up to get an application, and those who actually purchased insurance and paid their first month’s premium.

It has also deliberately neglected who was insured, so they are just trying to inflate their numbers to make it appear far better than it is, and this is a real manifestation of this-we don’t know how many of these letters HHS sent out, and we don’t even know if they are counting the partially completed applications that they filled out in the funny numbers that they are releasing.

In addition to that, it also underscores the incredible lack of data security and the violations of privacy that Obamacare necessitates, because on the face of the letter, it is state government agencies that are forwarding your personal health information to the federal government without your permission, against your wishes, and they have no business doing that. Its one of many problems that is pandemic in Obamacare.

Javier has pictures of one HHS letter, sent out to an unknown number of Americans which informed them that HHS had “started” an application for them based on information from other government agencies. This is part of the text of the letter:

“…You or someone on your application will likely be able to get coverage through the Marketplace, and get help paying for health coverage…We used the information from the state agency to start an application for you on Healthcare.gov. You’ll need to complete and submit this application to see if you qualify for Marketplace coverage.

To do this, you can log into your Healthcare.gov account, or if you don’t already have an account, you can create one on Healthcare.gov… For more information about how to complete the application we started for you www.healthcare.gov/help/statetranser”

Did these partial sign-ups get counted in the final 7.1 million figure? No one knows, because HHS hasn’t exactly been forthcoming on the data from these claims made over the past couple of weeks.

Needless to say, Republicans would like to get more of that information — and the nomination of Sylvia Burwell to replace Kathleen Sebelius as HHS Secretary gives Senate Republicans the perfect opening to demand that data, as well as explanations for the many other failures at HHS. Marc Thiessen argues at the Washington Post that they should take full advantage of that opening:

So thanks to Burwell’s nomination, Americans may finally get to the bottom of how the biggest presidential lie in recent memory made it though OMB’s fact-checking process — not once but dozens of times.

The first time the lie surfaced — when Obama told the American Medical Association on June 15, 2009, “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what” — it wasn’t on Burwell’s watch.

But Burwell was OMB director when Obama declared on Sept. 26, 2013: “Now, let’s start with the fact that even before the Affordable Care Act fully takes effect, about 85 percent of Americans already have health insurance — either through their job, or through Medicare, or through the individual market. So if you’re one of these folks, it’s reasonable that you might worry whether health-care reform is going to create changes that are a problem for you — especially when you’re bombarded with all sorts of fear-mongering. So the first thing you need to know is this: If you already have health care, you don’t have to do anything.”

Burwell should explain to Congress and the American people how her office allowed blatant falsehoods to get into presidential speeches, including whether political aides overruled career policy advisers who warned that the president’s claims were untrue.

Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats may have enjoyed their brief victory lap, but it’s going to force them to defend ObamaCare the rest of the year. We’ll see how much of a victory the enrollment numbers turned out to be by the enthusiasm with which Democratic incumbents in tight races embrace them. If the studies from RAND and Express Scripts are any indication, don’t expect that to be a common thread.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: abortion; deathpanels; democratcare; donkeycare; drewsteele; hhs; jackasscare; javiermanjarres; kathleensebelius; obamacare; sylviamathewsburrell; sylviamathewsburwell; tedcruz; texas; zerocare

1 posted on 04/14/2014 12:04:44 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
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2 posted on 04/14/2014 12:07:20 PM PDT by b4its2late (A Progressive is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Anybody wanna guess the budget for this miserable, wasteful, oppressive monstrosity called the Dept of HHS? Try 1$ TRILLION.

NUKE HHS! NOW!

3 posted on 04/14/2014 12:08:14 PM PDT by PapaNew
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To: SeekAndFind

So, in plain english, the numbers are worthless. And if they were GOOD we would hear accurate numbers.


4 posted on 04/14/2014 12:09:27 PM PDT by Mr. K (If you like your constitution, you can keep it...Period. PALIN/CRUZ 2016)
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To: SeekAndFind
I am a BIG Cruz supporter (put him in office, I did!), but this time..


5 posted on 04/14/2014 12:10:24 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (Fight Tapinophobia in all its forms! Do not submit to arduus privilege.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Sylvia Mathews Burwell was good at picking through Vince Foster’s trash, after he died of a bad case of Arkancide, during her stint as Billy Jeff Clinton’s Deputy Chief of Staff. She should be adept at finding hidden stuff.


6 posted on 04/14/2014 12:12:56 PM PDT by txrefugee
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To: SeekAndFind
Ted Cruz, where was he during the Bundy ranch showdown? Has he come out against the land grab?

I bring that up because NONE of our faves in the constitutional conservative movement had the instincts to get involved. It makes one wonder if any of them are more than rhetoric.

7 posted on 04/14/2014 12:14:21 PM PDT by grania
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To: SeekAndFind

Healthcare for people who didn’t want to pay for it has failed. 47 million uninsured free loading at the emergency rooms. Total destruction of our healthcare system. 6.6 million driven away from employer provided healthcare to go to socialized healthcare and get your neighbor to pay for it or some of it. An estimated 22 million will lose healthcare when employer mandates kick in. Billions of penalties if you don’t yield to this communism. End result ? 46 million uninsured !! What a fiasco.


8 posted on 04/14/2014 12:17:12 PM PDT by SADMILLIE
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To: freedumb2003

With stupid, stubborn, heads-in-the-sand voters, you have to be Captain Obvious.

Over and over and Over again!


9 posted on 04/14/2014 12:19:15 PM PDT by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
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To: grania

http://www.futurnamics.com/reid_bundyranch.php

go here


10 posted on 04/14/2014 12:34:22 PM PDT by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: SeekAndFind
PRIOR TO THE PASSAGE OF OBAMACARE, America's health care system WAS VASTLY SUPERIOR TO WHAT IT IS NOW.

.

11 posted on 04/14/2014 1:08:45 PM PDT by CivilWarBrewing
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To: SeekAndFind

The real test is going to be when people with 0-care try to access care.


12 posted on 04/14/2014 1:55:30 PM PDT by grumpygresh (Democrats delenda est. New US economy: Fascism on top, Socialism on the bottom.)
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To: SeekAndFind

“funny numbers = lies”.


13 posted on 04/14/2014 2:28:15 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (If His Arrogance knows where his BC is, why did he have to hire someone to Photoshop a new one?)
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14 posted on 04/14/2014 2:50:19 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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