Adventures in Obamacare

Two news accounts explore the technical issues that have plagued the rollout of Healthcare.gov since October 1. At the Washington Post, Lena Sun and Scott Wilson take a stab at the story in “Health insurance exchange launched despite signs of serious problems.” Over at the Associated Press, Jack Gillum and Julie Pace have “Builders of Obama’s Website saw red flags.” Both of these stories are superficial and inadequate, but it’s what the big media have on offer today. Rich Lowry provides a useful complement to these pieces in the New York Post column “Healthcare.gov is walking dead.”

Also at the Washington Post Glenn Kessler takes a look at Obama’s claim yesterday in the course of the Rose Garden rally: “One study shows that through new options created by the Affordable Care Act, nearly six in 10 uninsured Americans will find that they can get coverage for less than $100 a month. Through the marketplaces you can get health insurance for what may be the equivalent of your cell phone bill. Or your cable bill.” Kessler provides value in identifying the source of this study. It “turns out to…be an in-house study produced by HHS — a fact that the president failed to mention. Moreover, it really is not based on an examination of premiums at all, but household composition and income data.”

Kessler withholds judgment on the veracity of Obama’s claim. My assessment is that it comports with the rest of Obama’s performance at the rally yesterday. It’s turtles all the way down.

The mainstream media reports on the Rose Garden rally yesterday are pathetic. Byron York filed a terrific column documenting the thoroughgoing falsity of Obama’s recitation immediately afterwards in “At the White House: Obamacare success stories that aren’t.” Byron returns to the scene today to capture the bizarreries in “President leads a surreal pep rally for ailing Obamacare.”

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