White House - moving those goalposts

[Rafterman]

In typical White House fashion, if a stated goal is unattainable, simply claim you never said it and move on. Next question.

Do you like my beard?

Jay Carney Seemingly Rewrites White House’s Obamacare Enrollment Goals

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney seemingly denied Monday that the Obama administration had hoped to have seven million consumers enrolled in Obamacare by March 31, 2014.

“You just said that the aggregate number at the end of March is less important than the demographic mix. Why is the administration backing away from the seven million — seven million-person enrollment figure that Kathleen Sebelius, Marilyn Tavenner and various other incarnations said was a goal and a legitimate goal and a reachable goal?” Garrett asked.

“What I would say, Major, is that the seven million estimate was a CBO figure from earlier this year on how many people they thought would come in during the first enrollment period,” Carney responded.

At least seven million enrollments are needed by March 31 to keep the government-run program financially stable, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

“(W)e’re not backing away from a number that we didn’t put out originally,” Carney added, making it sound as if the White House hadn’t embraced the seven million figure. “I think that others noted that seven million is a fine target but that that will not determine whether the marketplaces function effectively.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/01/06/jay-carney-seemingly-rewrites-white-houses-obamacare-enrollment-goals/

Oh, and before someone jumps to the Administration's defense to say they didn't put the 7 million figure out there, here's the video:

Unless someone now wants to claim that Kathleen Sebelius is some kind of rogue agent operating outside the purview of the White House.

One other point, contrary to Mr. Carney's comments, the 7 million figure IS a magic number - it's the number of folks needed to have not only enrolled, but purchased, insurance to make the entire system financially viable.

[F3SS]

The CBO is their holy grail any other time and they definitely touted 7 million as their goal.

[Kowalski]

And I'm not surprised by this. I'm pretty sure the Obama Administration has lost all credibility.....

[ninjadude]

One other point, contrary to Mr. Carney's comments, the 7 million figure IS a magic number - it's the number of folks needed to have not only enrolled, but purchased, insurance to make the entire system financially viable.

Do you have a source for this? I mean other than theblaze which has zero credibility.

[MiskatonicGrad]

Again ninja proves the point why he comes off as the least informed person on this forum!

"could you look that up for me my google seems to be broken?"

Sebelius said at least 7 million would be nice AT LEAST she was even going with the low number

[Rafterman]

Do you have a source for this? I mean other than theblaze which has zero credibility.

If you noticed, the article may be from the Blaze, but the exchange was with CBS news. I always make a point to post from "accepted" mainstream media sources so they will not be summarily dismissed by the Obamacare fanboys. But hey, if you don't like the Blze, here's WaPo (http://www.washingto...-target-number/). Is that more acceptable to you?

As for the 7 million needed to be successful, that's not from the Blaze, that's 100% Rafterman (and the CBO and the Administration)- how's that for credibility?

Then there's that pesky issue that, while sign ups have definitely taken a jump in the past few weeks, sign ups in no way equal paid plans and the medicaid to full-payer balance is still way off.

Again, I stick with my prediction that in the end we're going to have a huge new government bureaucracy that will be at least $1 trillion over budget, still have increasing healthcare costs, and the exact same number of uninsured as we had before we don't down this rabbit hole.

Edited January 8, 2014 by Rafterman

[ninjadude]

Again ninja proves the point why he comes off as the least informed person on this forum!

If you'll open your eyes, that's not what I was questioning. It's raftermans "magic number" idea.

[ninjadude]

If you noticed, the article may be from the Blaze, but the exchange was with CBS news. I always make a point to post from "accepted" mainstream media sources so they will not be summarily dismissed by the Obamacare fanboys. But hey, if you don't like the Blze, here's WaPo (http://www.washingto...-target-number/). Is that more acceptable to you?

Like Misk, you're missing the point. Where does this "magic number" "to make financially viable" idea come from. I suspect Glenn was pulling that one out of his hind end.

I don't have a problem with the 7 mill as a goal. We set goals all the time. We make some, we miss some. It's not the high school end of the world that repubs like to think.

[acidhead]

Only in north korea could a gov get away with lying to the public...... er.... I mean only in America.

lol