J. Scott Applewhite/AP
The Obama administration admitted Thursday that it over-reported the number of people who signed up for the President's signature health care law by double-counting in its initial reported numbers, hundreds of thousands of people who enrolled in dental insurance plans.
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell acknowledged the error on social media after a Bloomberg News report alleged that the administration had included about 400,000 dental plans in numbers it reported for enrollments under the Affordable Care Act.
'The mistake we made is unacceptable,' Burwell said on Twitter. 'I will be communicating that clearly throughout the (department.)'
A White House spokesman later told the Associated Press that administration had mistakenly over-reported Obamacare enrollment numbers by about 400,000 by double-counting consumers who had purchased both dental coverage and medical insurance coverage separately through Healthcare.gov and various state insurance marketplaces created under the law.
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Administration officials had included the extra 400,000 in their enrollment numbers, helping Obama get 7.1 million enrollees - markedly above his original goal of getting 7 million enrollees. The revised number, to account for the error, as of Oct. 15, will be closer to 6.7 million enrollees, according to the administration.
The discrepancy was reportedly uncovered by Republican investigators for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has accused the White House of fudging the numbers deliberately.
'Faced with large numbers of Americans running for an exit from Obamacare, instead of offering the public an accurate accounting, the administration engaged in an effort to obscure and downplay the number of dropouts,' Issa said in a statement.
The White House has denied those allegations.
With News Wire Services
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Entities 0 Name: White House Count: 2 1 Name: Obama Count: 2 2 Name: Burwell Count: 1 3 Name: Darrell Issa Count: 1 4 Name: Issa Count: 1 5 Name: Sylvia M. Burwell Count: 1 6 Name: House Count: 1 7 Name: Bloomberg News Count: 1 8 Name: Health and Human Services Count: 1 9 Name: Obamacare Count: 1 10 Name: Government Reform Committee Count: 1 11 Name: Committee Count: 1 12 Name: Healthcare Count: 1 13 Name: Associated Press Count: 1 14 Name: News Wire Services Count: 1 15 Name: Pool\/Getty Images Administration Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1uXgGbY Title: Obamacare's Subscriber Rolls Include Unpublicized Dental Plans Description: The Obama administration included as many as 400,000 dental plans in a number it reported for enrollments under the Affordable Care Act, an unpublicized detail that helped surpass a goal for 7 million sign-ups.