Obamacare a bigger flop than imagined! Only 26,000 sign up through federal site

Just 26,000 people managed to buy insurance through the federal Obamacare website and barely over 100,000 people have purchased plans altogether, according to the Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - What a mess! The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Wednesday the initial figures for Obamacare enrollment, and the numbers are abysmal. A mere 26,000 people managed to make it through the byzantine, hazard-ridden Obamacare website and complete the enrollment process. Another 79,000 individuals managed to navigate through the state exchanges.

Only 106,000 people enrolled in Obamacare in October, far below the anticipated figure.

AFTER THE UNSPEAKABLE, WE SPEAK HOPE. Support Catholic Online's response to Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. DONATE NOW ...

The chief reason is the websites numerous flaws, and the inability of people to complete the signup process. Nearly 27 million people have visited the website.

About 47 percent of Americans live without health insurance of any kind. More now their plans may be cancelled, although today Obama granted those unlucky citizens a reprieve of just one year.

In one month, it will become known how many people decided to pay for their first month of coverage. People who signed up for coverage must pay for their first month before Dec. 15.

By this time, Obama and the HHS had hoped there would be at least half-a-million individuals signed up through the state and federal websites.

What happens next is unclear, but nobody is predicting a long-term success for Obamacare-unless the aim of that program is a single-payer system. A large number of Americans will likely game the system by just paying the penalty on their taxes, then buying insurance once diagnosed with a serious condition, since they cannot be turned away.

Meanwhile, corporations and other large businesses will probably find it cheaper to pay penalties than to provide insurance for all their employees. This will force greater numbers of people into the individual marketplace.

As insurance premiums rise and more people are unable to afford them, the government will become the only entity that can offer a solution, which is will do by offering a single-payer healthcare system for everybody.

Such a system, while common throughout much of the industrialized world, also creates shortages of care and lengthy delays in treatment.

The best solution would be to repeal Obamacare before it takes effect and to reinvent it with a solution that actually increases competition for customers and provides genuine incentives for people and businesses to provide insurance. Right now, the system only provides disincentive and hindrance, a painfully evident fact in light of yesterday's figures.

AFTER THE UNSPEAKABLE, WE SPEAK HOPE. Support Catholic Online's response to Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. DONATE NOW ...

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'