Biden: Coming in 2 Million Short on Obamacare Would Be "a Hell of a Start"
Speaking in Minnesota, Vice President Joe Biden talked up Obamacare's enrollment problems, including the program's awful start and lagging enrollments. Not to worry, the VP said:
Biden acknowledged that "we may not get to 7 million, but if we get to 5 or 6 million that's a hell of a start."
In total, nearly 3.3 million had enrolled through the end of January. That's about 75 percent of what the administration had hoped to achieve by that point in the open enrollment period.
Channeling the wisdom he learned over years of occasionally plagiarizing other people's life stories, Biden also offered up this defense of the program's rollout:
"We didn't want this to start off as shaky as it did," he said. "But it's complicated."
Yes, it is, Joe. Yes, it is.
Let's assume that the program only enrolls 5 million in the individual markets. Let's further assume that the demographic mix of those people isn't the acturial balance needed to keep costs the way they were predicted. What happens next? At what point does "a hell of a start" just turn into a hell of a program? Find answers in Reason's ongoing Obamacare coverage.
In 2009, Reason TV celebrated "Joe Biden: Real Man of Genius."
