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Obama flubs during health care conference call with community organizers, claims 'more than 100 MILLION Americans' have enrolled
By David Martosko, U.s. Political Editor
PUBLISHED: 21:44 EST, 18 November 2013 | UPDATED: 23:14 EST, 18 November 2013
President Barack Obama told a conference-call audience of progressive volunteers on Monday evening that 'more than 100 million Americans' – in a nation of less than 314 million – have successfully signed up for health insurance via the Affordable Care Act.
And at a time when his signature legislative initiative's website has made the White House the butt of jokes, the website hosting the conference call was plagued with its own connection errors and other malfunctions.
A weary-sounding Obama made his gaffe during the call, hosted by Organizing For Action, the nonprofit successor to his campaign organization Obama For America. The group claimed 200,000 people managed to listen, aided by an RSVP process that included a fundraising solicitation.
Another Obama website, another lost connection: The OFA conference call was plagued with computer problems -- much like healthcare.gov -- and displayed a 'connection failed' message
'I just wanted to take a few minutes to speak to everybody because you guys are the ones who are in the trenches, day-in, day-out,' Obama said, complaining of 'misinformation' that has circulated about his health insurance overhaul law.
But 'problems with the website ... have created and fed a lot of this misinformation,' he admitted.
Boasting of his administration's skill in encouraging taxpayers to buy health insurance policies through public marketplaces, he claimed that 'in the first month alone, we've seen more than 100 million Americans already successfully enroll in the new insurance plans.'
That number is att odds with reality, but Obama didn't skip a beat or make any effort to correct himself, and his next comments did little to clear up the mistake.
'You've got a million Americans who've completed an application for themselves or their families,' he continued. 'And that represents about a million-and-a-half people.'
'And of those million-and-a-half people, you've already got a whole bunch of folks who have successfully signed up to get coverage, and you've got almost 400,000 folks who could gain access to Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.'
'So effectively, in a month,' he said, 'we've already got half a million Americans who will likely have the security of health care – for the first time, in some cases, in their lives – as soon as January 1.'
It's likely Obama meant to initially take credit for 100,000 success stories, rather than 100 million. But his mangling of the statistics put him off-track by a factor of 1,000.
Jim Acosta ✔ @JimAcostaCNN
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This Obama OFA call sounds very scratchy, like a fireside chat.
8:38 PM - 18 Nov 2013
Mark Knoller ✔ @markknoller
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Pres Obama sounded subdued in his conference call remarks tonight. None of the high-energy rhetoric he usually delivers to supporters.
8:53 PM - 18 Nov 2013
Me in Jersey @Me_In_Jersey
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@WhiteHouse Waiting for the OFA website conference call to work? #utterfailure #unqualified #inept #corrupt #SerialLiar
10:32 PM - 18 Nov 2013
Rick Wilson @TheRickWilson
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This is exactly the time where Obama can afford to have more tech bumps. Yeah. Obama?s conference call on Obamacare goes about as well as HealthCare.gov rollout | Twitchy
10:25 PM - 18 Nov 2013
And even the smaller number relies on a flexible definition of what counts, and what doesn't, as an Obamacare subscriber.
The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Nov. 13 that 106,185 Americans chose health insurance plans through public exchanges between Oct. 1 and Nov. 2, including the headache-plagued healthcare.gov and the more stable marketplace websites run independently by 14 states and the District of Columbia.
But the Obama administration included in that number everyone who had identified a health care plan and placed it into a virtual online shopping cart. HHS hasn't said how many of them have actually made a purchase.
The president's claim that 'a million Americans ... have completed an application for themselves or their families' is also up for debate since that number refers to people who the government acknowledges 'have not yet selected a plan.'
Obama insisted Monday night that the administration is only one month into a six-month process.
'Everyone who wants to get enrolled with get enrolled' by the March 31, 2014 deadline, he assured his listeners. 'This isn't a one-day sale, and the prices aren't going to change.'
He spoke for nearly 14 minutes, but did not take questions.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney previewed the call on Monday afternoon, telling reporters that the administration is 'obviously in a moment of time, as applies to the Affordable Care Act, where a lot of focus, understandably, is being directed toward the problems with the websites and other issues.'
During the call, Organizing For Action executive director Jon Carson announced that 'at the national level' his organization would be 'partnering with fantastic progressive organizations' to persuade more Americans to enroll in the Obamacare exchanges.
He named the Center for American Progress, Planned Parenthood ,the Service Employees International Union and Enroll America.
The White House did not respond to an email asking whether it would correct the president's claim that 100 million Americans have enrolled already.
By David Martosko, U.s. Political Editor
PUBLISHED: 21:44 EST, 18 November 2013 | UPDATED: 23:14 EST, 18 November 2013
President Barack Obama told a conference-call audience of progressive volunteers on Monday evening that 'more than 100 million Americans' – in a nation of less than 314 million – have successfully signed up for health insurance via the Affordable Care Act.
And at a time when his signature legislative initiative's website has made the White House the butt of jokes, the website hosting the conference call was plagued with its own connection errors and other malfunctions.
A weary-sounding Obama made his gaffe during the call, hosted by Organizing For Action, the nonprofit successor to his campaign organization Obama For America. The group claimed 200,000 people managed to listen, aided by an RSVP process that included a fundraising solicitation.
Another Obama website, another lost connection: The OFA conference call was plagued with computer problems -- much like healthcare.gov -- and displayed a 'connection failed' message
'I just wanted to take a few minutes to speak to everybody because you guys are the ones who are in the trenches, day-in, day-out,' Obama said, complaining of 'misinformation' that has circulated about his health insurance overhaul law.
But 'problems with the website ... have created and fed a lot of this misinformation,' he admitted.
Boasting of his administration's skill in encouraging taxpayers to buy health insurance policies through public marketplaces, he claimed that 'in the first month alone, we've seen more than 100 million Americans already successfully enroll in the new insurance plans.'
That number is att odds with reality, but Obama didn't skip a beat or make any effort to correct himself, and his next comments did little to clear up the mistake.
'You've got a million Americans who've completed an application for themselves or their families,' he continued. 'And that represents about a million-and-a-half people.'
'And of those million-and-a-half people, you've already got a whole bunch of folks who have successfully signed up to get coverage, and you've got almost 400,000 folks who could gain access to Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.'
'So effectively, in a month,' he said, 'we've already got half a million Americans who will likely have the security of health care – for the first time, in some cases, in their lives – as soon as January 1.'
It's likely Obama meant to initially take credit for 100,000 success stories, rather than 100 million. But his mangling of the statistics put him off-track by a factor of 1,000.
Jim Acosta ✔ @JimAcostaCNN
Follow
This Obama OFA call sounds very scratchy, like a fireside chat.
8:38 PM - 18 Nov 2013
Mark Knoller ✔ @markknoller
Follow
Pres Obama sounded subdued in his conference call remarks tonight. None of the high-energy rhetoric he usually delivers to supporters.
8:53 PM - 18 Nov 2013
Me in Jersey @Me_In_Jersey
Follow
@WhiteHouse Waiting for the OFA website conference call to work? #utterfailure #unqualified #inept #corrupt #SerialLiar
10:32 PM - 18 Nov 2013
Rick Wilson @TheRickWilson
Follow
This is exactly the time where Obama can afford to have more tech bumps. Yeah. Obama?s conference call on Obamacare goes about as well as HealthCare.gov rollout | Twitchy
10:25 PM - 18 Nov 2013
And even the smaller number relies on a flexible definition of what counts, and what doesn't, as an Obamacare subscriber.
The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Nov. 13 that 106,185 Americans chose health insurance plans through public exchanges between Oct. 1 and Nov. 2, including the headache-plagued healthcare.gov and the more stable marketplace websites run independently by 14 states and the District of Columbia.
But the Obama administration included in that number everyone who had identified a health care plan and placed it into a virtual online shopping cart. HHS hasn't said how many of them have actually made a purchase.
The president's claim that 'a million Americans ... have completed an application for themselves or their families' is also up for debate since that number refers to people who the government acknowledges 'have not yet selected a plan.'
Obama insisted Monday night that the administration is only one month into a six-month process.
'Everyone who wants to get enrolled with get enrolled' by the March 31, 2014 deadline, he assured his listeners. 'This isn't a one-day sale, and the prices aren't going to change.'
He spoke for nearly 14 minutes, but did not take questions.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney previewed the call on Monday afternoon, telling reporters that the administration is 'obviously in a moment of time, as applies to the Affordable Care Act, where a lot of focus, understandably, is being directed toward the problems with the websites and other issues.'
During the call, Organizing For Action executive director Jon Carson announced that 'at the national level' his organization would be 'partnering with fantastic progressive organizations' to persuade more Americans to enroll in the Obamacare exchanges.
He named the Center for American Progress, Planned Parenthood ,the Service Employees International Union and Enroll America.
The White House did not respond to an email asking whether it would correct the president's claim that 100 million Americans have enrolled already.
