Politics

Too early to declare ‘Mission Accomplished’ for the ObamaCare website

Matt K. Lewis Senior Contributor
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It may be more than just a digital Potemkin village, but I’m skeptical of the notion the website has truly turned a corner.

For example, the New York Times reports that “For insurers the process is maddeningly inconsistent. Some people clearly are being enrolled. But insurers say they are still getting duplicate files and, more worrisome, sometimes not receiving information on every enrollment taking place.”

As I’ve written before, the potential scenario where people arrive at their doctor’s office believing they have insurance coverage is worse than the scenario where they know they can’t sign up.

Meanwhile, even when people can sign up for ObamaCare, the issue of rate shock could still increase the likelihood of adverse selection, whereby healthy young people may make a strategic decision to pay the “tax” rather than signing up.

The bottom line is that Team Obama might want to wait a bit before unfurling that “Mission Accomplished” banner.

Tags : obamacare
Matt K. Lewis