RNC Submits FOIA Request to Obtain Number of Americans Enrolled in Obamacare

Katie Pavlich | October 21, 2013 10:03 AM

The Obama administration has refused to reveal how many people are enrolled in Obamacare since the exchange website was launched on October 1. Due to the administration's lack of cooperation to provide the public with information about the number of people enrolled, the RNC has submitted a Freedom of Information Request to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

"The administration insists the website isn’t a failure but instead just experiencing a few “glitches” and that it is both popular and functional. There’s only one way to prove it: releasing the enrollment numbers. Otherwise, taxpayers have no way to know what they’re getting for the site’s price tag of roughly half a billion dollars," the RNC released in a statement.

The FOIA requests the following information:

"Any and all data recording each successful purchase of a health insurance policy…on any of the Affordable Care Act exchanges administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services...”

“Any and all documents or communications, including but not limited to relevant emails and letters, regarding the collection of successful enrollee data on or after October 1, 2013..."

“Kathleen Sebelius and the Obama administration spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on this website, but Americans trying to use it have gotten little more than error messages and crashing web pages,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement. “It’s important for Americans to see these numbers because they illustrate just how terrible the system is and how poorly designed the law was. The administration isn’t living up to its promises, and they must be held accountable. Really it’s telling that they don’t want to give out any numbers. This is an administration that never misses an opportunity to brag; they’ve previously leaked sensitive national security information to burnish their image. So what are they hiding? The American people deserve answers, and we’re going to do everything we can to get them.”