New documents reveal (http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/11/01/6-people-signed-up-for-health-insurance-on-day-1-of-federal-website-memo) that a mere six people managed to sign up for health insurance through the government's beleaguered e-commerce website, Healthcare.gov on its opening day.
Naturally, the press is milking (https://news.google.com/news/rtc?ncl=dJONuk9uHTc3cuM5vkSc1lcZf3IqM&topic=h) every last ounce of this click-bait statistic, but in reality, it probably doesn't matter. Young, uninsured consumers are compulsive procrastinators. When Massachusetts launched its own e-commerce portal for a similar health insurance law back in 2006, a substantial portion of new registrants (http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/10/it-doesnt-matter-if-no-one-signs-obamacare-week) (12,000) came on just two weeks before the deadline.
Enrollment numbers grow exponentially as last-minute consumers scramble to take advantage of the new product. Now, this isn't to say that Healthcare.gov's epic fail isn't bad. As I've written, it's riddled with propaganda (http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/30/no-madam-secretary-prices-on-healthcare-gov-are-not-a-hypothetical-situation/) and authoritarianism that have royally screwed over the technology industry (http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/20/how-healthcare-gov-doomed-itself-by-screwing-startups/).
Continued problems with the website are a serious threat, as it may not be ready by the crucial Thanksgiving holiday (http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/25/healthcare-gov-likely-broken-until-crucial-end-of-november-deadline/) when young consumers are expected to sign up.
That said, Obamacare was not rolled out to a vacuum. We have plenty of historical evidence from the experience in Massachusetts to put these numbers in context.
(http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Techcrunch?d=2mJPEYqXBVI) (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Techcrunch?d=7Q72WNTAKBA) (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Techcrunch?d=yIl2AUoC8zA) (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Techcrunch?i=LHFnAZShL9o:06OES5lZgHA:-BTjWOF_DHI) (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Techcrunch?i=LHFnAZShL9o:06OES5lZgHA:D7DqB2pKExk) (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Techcrunch?d=qj6IDK7rITs) (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~4/LHFnAZShL9o)