Reality and the re-Tweeting of Chad’s “success” story (see WaPo for instance) are two different things. The first being is that he is paying a lot more (Washington Examiner):
American media outlets were finally able to track down a mythical creature — a person who actually signed up for the Obamacare exchanges online.
But that person, Chad Henderson, admitted to the Washington Post that the premium for the plan he enrolled in was $175. Ouch! Wasn’t Obamacare supposed to lower premiums?
Henderson’s going to pay a $175 premium and he won’t even receive vision or dental insurance. He has contacts, so not having vision insurance is kind of a bum deal.
Henderson, as far as we know a healthy, 21-year-old college student at Chattanooga State Community College who lives in Flintstone, Ga., and works part-time at a day-care center, did not qualify for tax credits to purchase insurance, according to the Post.
Without Obamacare, Henderson could have received health insurance for as little as $44.72 on eHealthInsurance.com, according to Michael F. Cannon of the Cato Institute.
“I can’t yet say whether Chad’s $175 premium is the lowest-cost plan available to him through the Obamacare Exchange,” Cannon said. “[I’m in the process of researching that, and it’ll probably take a few hours.] But it’s probably close.”
Thanks to Obamacare’s community-rating price controls that take effect in 2014, Henderson’s cheapest plan option on eHealthInsurance jumped up to $190.23.
See Twitchy!
The above shows something else in Chad’s “success” story. HotAir has this:
…Rothman was convinced they would properly vet The Only Man In America With ObamaCare Exchange Insurance … at least until he wasn’t:
Chances are you will soon be hearing the name Chad Henderson and his heroic story of enrolling successfully in a health care exchange. His is a saga of hope and redemption. If Chad can do it, maybe the millions of other healthy young people needed to sustain this program can too.
UPDATE: It turns out Henderson’s knowledge of OFA was not the result of his astuteness or political acumen. According to his LinkedIn profile, he is a current OFA volunteer. Maybe those many media outlets who spoke with him will make note of this seemingly relevant fact.
OFA? You mean Organizing for America, which spent the last year stuffing e-mail inboxes with an avalanche of missives about just how easy and wonderful ObamaCare would be? That OFA?
It’s not just OFA, by the way, but also his past record of Democratic Party activism that the media should have noted. Henderson either is now or recently has been the President of the Walker County Young Democrats, depending on how updated his LinkedIn summary is. Shouldn’t that have been disclosed along with the miracle of his successful registration this week?
But hey, the mainstream media has lots of editors and fact-checkers. I’m sure they’ll get around to it. (via Doug Powers at the Boss Emeritus’ place).
Propaganda Busted!
UPDATE:
The media’s poster boy and Organizing For America’s volunteer, Chad Henderson, admits he never signed up for an Obamacare plan. Enroll America praised Chad as someone who had successfully purchased insurance coverage on HealthCare.Gov. Washington Post spoke with Chad’s father who said he did not believe Chad signed up for healthcare coverage.