Administration Lowers Number of Affordable Care Act Enrollees - East Idaho News
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Administration Lowers Number of Affordable Care Act Enrollees

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123113 HealthcareSite?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1416578137584ABC News(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Health and Human Services admitted Thursday that the actual number of people who enrolled in the Affordable Care Act between Oct. 1, 2013 and March 30, 2014 was under the 7.3 million that the Obama administration reported.

The discrepancy was first pointed out by the GOP-controlled House Oversight Committee.

HHS spokesman Ben Wakana wrote in a statement Thursday that the corrected number of enrollees is 6.7 million.

Apparently, the administration mistakenly counted dental-only plans as well that numbered about 400,000. HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said the error was inadvertent and that an internal investigation is under way to discover what happened.

After the enrollment period earlier this year, the administration actually reported eight million enrollees in the Affordable Care Act, but revised the figure downwards when 700,000 people did not pay for their plans.

Republicans have renewed their battle to take apart the program they call “Obamacare,” particularly after one of its architects, Jonathan Gruber, said one of the reasons the law passed was due to the “stupidity” of U.S. voters.

The White House has disavowed Gruber’s remarks, saying it does not reflect the president’s opinion of Americans.


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