Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2013, before the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the implementation failures of the Affordable Care Act. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
At a House Ways and Means Committee hearing last week, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) asked HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius if she was going to delay the open enrollment period for Obamacare beyond the already-extended deadline of March 31. She answered very plainly, “No sir.” Rep. Brady didn’t ask Sec. Sebelius because he didn’t know the answer. The HHS has already delayed various deadlines multiple times. The question was asked to see if Sec. Sebelius would finally tell the truth. She did not. No one was surprised.
The Washington Post’s Amy Goldstein points out that to benefit from the administration’s latest Obamacare delay, people will need to check a box on HealthCare.gov indicating that they tried to sign up for Obamacare before March 31, and that classification will “rely on an honor system; the government will not try to determine whether the person is telling the truth.” As Speaker Boehner asked in his press conference, “What the hell is this, a joke?” It might not be meant as a joke, but for the Obama White House, it’s clearly just another night at The Improv.
And this latest delay is less about making sure people sign up and more about trying to buy time for Democrats. The administration still hasn’t met its diminished goal of 6 million Obamacare enrollees, even though the official HHS numbers still include duplicate enrollments and those who have signed up but who haven’t actually paid. By delaying the enrollment deadline yet again, the administration is giving themselves a few extra weeks – or maybe even months – of falsely inflated enrollment numbers.
Anyway, we’re now at the point where the administration will lie to us, even though everyone knows they’re lying and they know we know they’re lying. I guess their strategy is to lie so much that everyone just becomes numb to the deceit and the lies start to seem routine. It’s remarkable, but that’s where we are. And there are still a few Obama apologists who will defend the lies to try and create a sliver of doubt and sow confusion among more gullible voters.
What does this mean politically? Does yet another lie make things worse for Obamacare, or does it contribute to the desensitization of voters? The Democrats hope voters will move past the deceit, the incompetence and the giant fraud that Obamacare has become, dismiss it as politics as usual and be less inclined to hold the Democrats accountable at the ballot box in November.
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