Health Care Sign-Ups: This Is What Transparency Looks Like

How many people have enrolled in health plans using the new federal exchange? Er, nobody seems to have a clue.

October 14, 2013, 5:21 pm

Since
the federal health insurance exchange has launched, top federal officials have
told interviewers that they do not know how many people have been able to
enroll using the healthcare.gov website.

In
an interview with the Associated
Press
on Oct. 4, President Obama said: “Well, I don’t have the numbers yet.”

Then,
appearing on the
Daily Show
on Oct. 8, the Health and Human Services Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius said she didn’t have the
information either. “I can’t tell you because I don’t know.”

Some
states, including California, New York and Colorado, are running their own
health insurance marketplaces for their residents. But the Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services (CMS) is handling enrollment for 30-plus states, including
Texas, Georgia and Florida, which decided not to set up their own exchanges.

Federal
officials have proudly proclaimed the number of visitors to the healthcare.gov site, as in this tweet:

Interest still high for http://t.co/BSPAgxrr4e, 14.6m unique visits in first 10 days, more people enrolling, wait times reduced & eliminated

— Joanne Peters (@JoannePtrs) October 11, 2013

But
they have declined numerous opportunities to provide enrollment figures. The
latest example: A New York Times
article on Sunday about
the site’s problems included this sentence: “Neither [CMS administrator
Marilyn] Tavenner nor other agency officials would
answer questions about the exchange or its performance last week.”

Reporters
and consumers across the country have said they are simply unable to enroll on
the site. You can read about my experience.

Federal
officials have said that they will release enrollment figures once a month,
beginning in November.

Those
interested in what transparency looks like can check the states. Some examples
of those that have put out numbers:

Connecticut