The administration released its "official" enrollment numbers this week, and to the surprise of virtually no one, they hit their target with just hours to spare.
(Part of me can't help but think they did it just for me, firing us all up for the expo better than any keynote speaker — or emotional editor — could. Although Mike Huckabee's speech came close.)
But as more than a few attendees, and speakers, have been quick to point out, that figure doesn't parcel out how many of those are newly insured, subsidized or have even paid their first bill. (Hell, if you want to get semantical about it, those people haven't technically enrolled in anything. They've just signed up. Which is about as helpful as if I'd just told all of you to meet me in Colorado for a get-together.)
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Even Obama loyalist Robert Gibbs couldn't help but point out on day two of the show that we weren't exactly getting the whole story. As with just about everything else surrounding this law, only time will tell.
But Gibbs was confident enough to predict that the employer mandate will probably never see the light of day, and will be excised from the law eventually. (I'd add the Cadillac tax is almost just as certain to face a similar fate.)
And while introducing a cheaper, "copper" plan to lure in those pesky millennials sounds good on paper, pairing those plans with lower deductibles, as Gibbs suggested, makes absolutely no sense. And, honestly, I'm starting to think no one in Washington knows how insurance works.
Finally, I'm reserving judgment on the midterm elections and whether they'll actually emerge as the referendum on PPACA everyone predicts it will be.
The only thing I know for certain is that I'll see you all in Scottsdale, Ariz., next May.
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