The White House is skewing the Obamacare enrollment numbers because most who signed up were people whose health insurance had been canceled, and fewer than a million fell into the category of newly insured, Sen. Tom Coburn said.
"We essentially took insurance away from 5.9 million people, and 4 million of them signed back up with a policy that cost them more, has a higher deductible, and has less choice," the Oklahoma Republican told "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday.
Coburn said that according to his sources, the newly insured composed "about 883,000" of the 7.1 million enrollees announced by the White House after the March 31 signup deadline.
The sense of celebration among the administration of President Barack Obama was "all about the November election, pumping it up," Coburn said.
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The actual numbers will be seen in the months to come when insurance companies announce premium increases, he said.
"We'll see how many people really signed up when we see how many people pay. And, one of the measures of that will be what the premium increases are coming [in] late April, early May for next year's premiums," Coburn said.
The new healthcare law was an example of a "well-meaning, but incompetent" government program, Coburn suggested. While admitting the nation's healthcare needed to be fixed, he said Obamacare's costs and effects weren't the solution.
"We need a system that lowers cost, gives real choice to people, improves healthcare and outcomes, and doesn't jeopardize the future of our country," he said.
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