DC Trawler

Bigfoot… Loch Ness Monster… El Chupacabra… Obamacare enrollees…

Font Size:

Which one are you likely to find first?

As Charles Cooke at National Review points out:

 

 

Yeah, the national press can’t really avoid this disaster, but at least their attempts to minimize it are fun. Not so with that Herald story, which is indeed brutal:

Nearly two weeks after the federal government launched the online Health Insurance Marketplace at HealthCare.gov, individuals who have successfully used the choked-up website to enroll for a subsidized health insurance plan have reached a status akin to urban legend: Everyone has heard of them, but very few people have actually met one.

The Miami Herald searched high and low for individuals who completed enrollment for a subsidized health plan through the marketplace, also called an exchange, launched by the federal government on Oct. 1 in 36 states, including Florida…

Florida CHAIN, a statewide consumer health advocacy group, has highlighted the story of Vincent Mutia, a 24-year-old political science student at the University of Central Florida.

Mutia said he tried to enroll on the first day but ran into problems that kept him from shopping the available plans, applying for a subsidy and making a purchase.

“In the last few days,’’ Mutia told the Herald on Friday, “the experience became more fluid. I was able to put in all my information. After the security questions, I created an account.”

Last week, the Orlando Sentinel reported the story of one man who succeeded in buying a plan — after starting at 6 a.m. on the day the exchange launched.

Two. Two guys who finally got it to work. With any luck, soon they’ll be able to double or maybe even triple that number. Take that, teabaggers!

Denying that Obamacare is already a fiasco is like saying the Hindenburg just needs a new coat of paint. But our moral, ethical, and intellectual betters in the media would rather talk about some loser with a Confederate flag.

Well, let ’em. That’s why fewer and fewer Americans are paying attention to them every day. That’s why you’re here.

P.S. Another example of media cluelessness, if not outright malpractice, from USA Today: “A job engine sputters as hospitals cut staff.”

Hospitals, a reliable source of employment growth in the recession and its aftermath, are starting to cut thousands of jobs amid falling insurance payments and inpatient visits.

The payroll cuts are surprising because the Affordable Care Act (ACA), whose implementation took a big step forward this month, is eventually expected to provide health coverage to as many as 30 million additional Americans.

Yes, what a surprise! Who could have predicted such a thing? For the past five years? See, this is happening in spite of Obamacare.

I hate to say I told you so. That’s why I usually try to rephrase it.

P.P.S. No, Obamacare is nothing at all like a new iPhone.