OUCH: Just 51,000 people completed Obamacare applications during the website’s first week, out of tens of millions of Americans in 36 states
Obamacare’s main signup engine attracted just 6,200 new customers on its launch day and 51,000 after the first week
At the same rate, the 6-month open enrollment period would sign up just 2 million Americans, including 14 states and D.C., which have their own insurance exchanges
The Congressional Budget Office says Obamacare needs at least 7 million customers to stay afloat financially
Numerous Obama administration officials have denied seeing any enrollment figures at all
MailOnline’s sources are two Health and Human Services workers who have access to the data as it’s crunched
Texas congressman says anemic national enrollment numbers are ‘roughly the population of a small town in my district’
By David Martosko, U.s. Political Editor
PUBLISHED: 14:29 EST, 10 October 2013 | UPDATED: 15:44 EST, 10 October 2013
Just 51,000 people completed Obamacare applications during the first week the Healthcare.gov website was online, according to two sources inside the Department of Health and Human Services who gave MailOnline an exclusive look at the earliest enrollment numbers.
The career civil servants, who process data inside the agency, confirmed independently that just 6,200 Americans applied for health insurance through the problem-plagued website on October 1, the day it first opened to the public.
Neither HHS nor the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would comment on the record about the numbers. Enroll America, the president’s organization of health care ‘navigators’ who are charged with helping Americans sign up, didn’t reply to a request for information about its level of success so far.
The White House also did not respond to emails seeking comment.
