Enrollment Numbers Are Irrelevant

In theory, open enrollment ends tonight. No longer can individuals without any excuse whatsoever wait to purchase health insurance policies on the Exchanges that will be in effect during 2014.   I very much expect we will hear numbers over the next few days such as 6.5 million or 7 million bandied about as “enrollment figures.” Many supporters of the ideas behind the original ACA who have managed to tolerate its metamorphosis over the past year will herald those numbers as signs of success.  And, indeed, those numbers are considerably better than many had feared.  I, for one, am prepared to confess that I may have been too pessimistic in the past about first year enrollment in the ACA. My pessimism is all the more glaring because the enrollment numbers are apparently coming notwithstanding the Obama administration’s decision to tie its hands behind its back by creating a new opportunity to evade the individual mandate via an undocumented “hardship exemption” and to delay making a  purchase decision based on “honor system” claims of difficulties in accessing healthcare.gov or state enrollment systems.