New York Times, "U.S. Cites Rise in Health Plan Signups as Sebelius Testifies": Sugarcoating a Disaster

In a lead New York Times article entitled "U.S. Cites Rise in Health Plan Signups as Sebelius Testifies" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/us/politics/health-care-law.html?hpw&rref=politics), Robert Pear begins by observing:

"The number of people selecting health insurance plans in the federal and state marketplaces increased last month at a brisk pace, bringing the overall figure to nearly 365,000, the Obama administration said on Wednesday. The November number was more than double the one for October, but still well below the administration’s goal."

Okay, how much "well below the administration's goal"? Fifteen paragraphs later, we are informed:

"The numbers are running behind enrollment targets developed by the administration for its own use. Federal officials were projecting that 1.2 million people would have enrolled by now through the federal and state exchanges, according to a memo prepared by the Health and Human Services Department in early September."

Several queries:

• Do "selected" and "enrolled" mean the same thing?
• Does "selected" mean that something has actually been finalized and paid for?
• Have insurance companies been accurately informed that 365,000 of their policies have been "selected," or does the 365,000 figure include persons who think they have "selected" a policy, but the insurance companies are unaware of such choice owing to the system's back-end problems?

Bottom line: Nowhere near seven million people will have "enrolled" (not merely "selected" health insurance plans) in Obamacare by the end of the Obama administration's initial enrollment period ending on March 31, 2014.

What then? Yup, a disaster in the making.