CBS: Six Enrollments on Obamacare's First Day

CBS won’t be making any new friends in the Obama administration tonight:

Early enrollment figures are contained in notes from twice-a-day “war room” meetings convened within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services after the website failed on Oct. 1. They were turned over in response to a document request from the House Oversight Committee.

The website launched on a Tuesday. Publicly, the government said there were 4.7 million unique visits in the first 24 hours. But at a meeting Wednesday morning, the war room notes say “six enrollments have occurred so far.”

They were with BlueCross BlueShield North Carolina and Kansas City, CareSource and Healthcare Service Corporation.

By Wednesday afternoon, enrollments were up to “approximately 100.” By the end of Wednesday, the notes reflect “248 enrollments” nationwide.

The health care exchanges need to average 39,000 enrollees a day to meet the goal of seven million by March 1. The war room notes give a glimpse into some of the reasons customers had problems:

“Direct enrollment (signing up directly on an insurer’s website) is not working for any issuers.”

“Experian” credit reporting agency is “creating confusion with credit check information.”

“Issuer phone numbers are not appearing correctly on the Pay Now page.”

“Friendly reminder,” from Allahpundit at Hot Air: “According to an administration memo sent to Sebelius on September 5, the target number for sign-ups in October alone was 494,620 or just shy of 16,000 a day. And October was expected to be a ‘slow month.'”

But if you’d like six digit numbers, albeit heading in the opposite direction, Bryan Preston has you covered at the PJ Tatler: “Obamacare, The UnAffordable Disappearing Care Act, Just Cost Another 340,000 Americans Their Healthcare.”

Elsewhere in the world of old media, while NBC will always put on a clown face and appear to happily carry the regime’s water, the low-rated peacock network and its flailing spin-off channels can’t be happy about this: “NBCUniversal’s Insurance Premiums to Rise Due to Obamacare:”

CNBC’s morning anchors were troubled by the news that their own insurance plans will become more costly under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

On Oct. 30’s “Squawk Box,” CNBC Senior Correspondent Scott Cohn revealed details of NBC’s open enrollment, brandishing an official fact book outlining the process. He quoted the document, revealing that the ACA would increase employee premiums.

Cohn observed “Some of these costs, when you look at this, are way up — double digits.”

Aetna Chairman and CEO, Mark Bertolini explained that “Aetna alone will pass through to its customers over a billion dollars of taxes and fees associated with the Affordable Care Act.”

In 2010, as Newsbusters’ Alex Fitzsimmons noted, “Lawrence O’Donnell Admits: ObamaCare Will Enact Largest Tax Increase Ever.”

As O’Donnell bragged to fellow MNSBC anchor Joe Scarborough back then, “we liberal Keynesians do not raise taxes in recessions; we raise taxes when you’re making money. That’s when we raise taxes. And we love to do it.”

And NBC anchors always love to suggest new ways for their fellow “liberal Keynesians” to raise your taxes and other expenses. Funny how they never think it will hit them in their own pockets, until it’s too late.

On the other hand, perhaps NBC can start turning a few extra lights off in the studio to offset their rising expenses.

(Via SDA.)

Update:

On the first day of the Obamacare exchange, 1 person out of every 783,333 visitors actually signed up for a plan.

— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) November 1, 2013