Almost three months after the launch of the Obamacare website and enrollment period, the Obama administration still cannot provide enrollment numbers for young American's.
Asked by a reporter at Tuesday’s White House Briefing how many young people have successfully enrolled in Obamacare, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was tight lipped, only saying that he did not have "any data specifically broken down by age" and encouraged the reporter to ask CMS for that data, but cautioned that he did not know what kind of information CMS currently has available. He attempted to justify the lack of records by saying that young people will most likely "wait until the last minute to get their paperwork done or their online applications done."
The reporter pressed Carney and informed him that CMS will not release the requested statistics. Carney admitted again "I don’t have it, so I would refer you to CMS. I don’t have the data."
Below is a transcript of the exchange:
Q: Yeah, thank you. Do you have any update on all -- at all for how successful the effort to find -- get people to enroll -- healthcare.gov has been on getting young people? What's the status on that?
MR. CARNEY: I don't have any data specifically broken down by age. I would refer you to CMS. I'm not sure what they have. There's no question that overall between now and March 31st, there needs to be a good mix of individuals in -- who enroll in the marketplaces. As I think we've talked about in general, it is common, as we've seen from past experience, for enrollment of any kind in these kind of programs, including the private health insurance that most of you enroll in and have open enrollment periods for, to happen disproportionately towards the end and that young people are even more inclined to wait until the last minute to get their paperwork done or their online applications done. So having stated those facts, I don't have any specific information with regards to the age breakdown so far.
Q: CMS won't give that information out either. I mean, do you not have it? You must have it, right?
MR. CARNEY: I would -- I just -- I don't have it. So I would refer you to CMS. I don't have that data.