Major Media File Lawsuits to Squeeze Obama for Federal Obamacare Enrollment Numbers

November 3rd, 2013 9:16 AM

The Hill newspaper reports “A slew of media organizations have petitioned the government to release ObamaCare data that the White House has refused to make public.”

ABC, CNN, MSNBC and others have filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) seeking information on the beleaguered healthcare.gov website. They asked for government documents revealing how many Americans have enrolled in the new healthcare exchanges.

ABC News wants "the documents detailing and describing the actual and potential costs associated with addressing flaws in [the healthcare.gov] website from Oct. 1, 2013 to Oct. 21, 2013." MSNBC also sought the "up to date number of people who have enrolled in the government's healthcare exchanges set up by” Obamacare.

“Some media outlets have asked for internal e-mail communications between key administration officials on the implementation of ObamaCare,” but “Government processing of FOIA requests can take weeks, months or years.” Team Obama promises a number by mid-November, so this is a way for media outlets to underline that they’re on the case and frustrated by the administration's reluctance to release numbers, even if the lawsuits aren’t quickly effective.

The numbers are going to be politically sensitive. As Josh Archambault argued at Forbes, “Over 500,000 individuals have seen their insurance policies cancelled in just 3 states.  In all 50 states, only 476,000 applications have been ‘filed’ in an exchange.”