Editorial Board
The Only Obamacare Number That Matters
Let's stop using Obamacare enrollment numbers to trumpet the law or tear it down. All that matters is improving it.
The monthly announcement of Obamacare's enrollment figures has become an exercise in confirmation bias, starting with the administration itself. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius noted the "encouraging trends" in yesterday's release, while House Speaker John Boehner opted to highlight its "embarrassing failures."
With just two months to go before the end of the Affordable Care Act's open-enrollment period, this kind of back-and-forth is a partisan indulgence. What matters is whether the law is helping more Americans get affordable health insurance -- a goal all sides claim to support.