My must read of the day is "HHS Still Won't Say How Many People Have Paid Their Obamacare Premiums," in the Weekly Standard:
Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius held a conference call Wednesday afternoon to tout the fact that 3.3 million Americans have signed up for health insurance plans through the Obamacare exchanges. But Sebelius and other HHS officials declined to say how many of those Americans have actually paid their premiums, a requirement for enrollment.
"As soon as we have our automated payment systems complete and tested, we believe that we'll be able to provide you some additional data about those consumers who have paid their premiums," said HHS spokeswoman Julie Bataille. An email to an HHS spokesman asking when the payment system would be completed was not immediately returned.
The automated payment systems are still incomplete. These statements confirm what was said before the House Energy and Commerce Committee last month and seem to suggest no progress has been made to get the system up and running.
This is what was referred to as a "back-end problem" on Healthcare.gov. As far as we know, the "back-end" still is not completely functional. The payment system was supposed to be up and running (and working) when the website went online Oct. 1. Oops!
The other day, in a post titled "Conservative Vindication," Peter Wehner of the Ethics and Public Policy Center wrote: "The reality is that on the facts and arguments surrounding the most far-reaching and transformative domestic program since the Great Society, conservatives were absolutely right and the left was absolutely wrong." It’s a reality that comes more clearly into focus every single day.