GOP struggles with Obamacare surge [View all]

[ProSense]

GOP struggles with Obamacare surge

By Steve Benen

As much of the country has probably heard, today marks the end of the open-enrollment period in the Affordable Care Act, and consumers who don’t get coverage are likely to face a tax penalty. ACA proponents have long predicted there’d be an 11th-hour surge in folks signing up, and right now, those predictions are holding up nicely...the White House posted photos over the weekend of events in Nevada, Texas, and Florida, where Americans lined up at grassroots events to enroll in the system...Enrollment through exchanges will likely get close to the 7 million threshold, and that won’t include Americans who’ve gained coverage through Medicaid, through their parents’ plans, or through direct enrollment that bypassed the exchanges...the L.A. Times reported this morning, “(A)t least 9.5 million previously uninsured people have gained coverage” – a number that keeps growing – as the rate of uninsured continues to drop.

Congressional Republicans, who are making no effort to hide the fact they’re rooting against the U.S. health care system, aren’t taking the news well.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) on Sunday dismissed the White House’s recent announcement that Obamacare enrollment had reached more than 6 million people, calling it a meaningless figure.

“I don’t think it means anything. … I think they’re cooking the books on this,” said Barrasso on “Fox News Sunday.”

Even by GOP standards, this was a rather extraordinary moment. A member of the Senate Republican leadership – indeed, the chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee – went on national television to accuse the White House of perpetrating a fraud based on nothing but his own hopes...When enrollment totals were low, Barrasso said the figures were very important. When enrollment totals surged, Barrasso said the figures don’t mean anything...For another, there’s literally no evidence to suggest the enrollment totals are illegitimate or have been “cooked” for political purposes. For a Senate leader to make such a reckless accusation out of frustration – a U.S. senator is apparently annoyed by American consumers gaining access to affordable medical care – is deeply irresponsible...confronted with information they find ideologically confusing, Republicans have suddenly become Luke Skywalker, learning who his father is for the first time.

“No! That’s not true!” they say. “That’s impossible!”

Reality, however, is stubborn. It’s eerily reminiscent of Election Night 2012 – conservatives had spent months telling themselves that the polls are wrong, the evidence was skewed, and the facts had been manipulated by rascally liberals, so they were absolutely shocked when President Obama won a second term rather easily.

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http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gop-struggles-obamacare-surge

Long Lines As Obamacare Enrollment Deadline Fast Approaches (PHOTOS)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024754810

So, Ted Cruz has a poll about "Obamacare" on his Facebook page:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024753680