Late summer before the federal health exchanges launched, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the Obama administration had a goal of getting 7 million people fully enrolled in Obamacare by March 2014.
"I think success looks like at least 7 million people having signed up by the end of March 2014,"Sebelius said during an interview with NBC News.
The White House has been slowly backing away from that number as health exchanges around the country continue to fail and as few people show interest in the program. Now, Vice President Joe Biden is
admitting the White House probably won't be meeting its goal of 7 million people enrolled by March.
Biden, on his way to a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Minneapolis, spoke with a small group of people in the city who are working to help others sign up for insurance, and thanked them for their work.
"We may not get to seven million, we may get to five or six, but that's a hell of a start," Biden said, according to a pool report of his meeting.
The Obama administration said last week that 3.3 million people have enrolled in private Obamacare health plans between October 1 and Feb
A hell of a start? More like a hell of a crawl. Keep in mind the definition of enrolled is a broad one. The federal government counts people putting Obamacare plans in their online shopping carts as "enrolled" before they pay for the plan or check out. According to insurers, 20 percent of people who fully signed up have failed to pay their first month's premium.
