Nets Cheered ObamaCare 'Sign-Up Surge,' But Bury New, Low Numbers

In March, all three networks heralded a "sign-up surge [1]" in ObamaCare numbers ahead of a deadline. Yet, when the administration announced on Monday that the number of people who enroll in the program will be "significantly lower by the end of next year [2]," ABC, CBS and NBC ignored the downbeat forecast.                     

Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer announced, "The Obama administration once again moving its target on ObamaCare...The government, tonight, is rolling back on expectations on the number of Americans who will sign up and that could have consequences." [MP3 audio here. [3]]

In contrast, on March 27 [1], then-World News anchor Diane Sawyer trumpeted, "ObamaCare has hit a new milestone. More than six million people have now signed up. That's almost the original goal of seven million." 

CBS Evening News hyped the "dramatic increase in the number of Americans signing up." The NBC Nightly News declared this an "ObamaCare milestone." 

The Washington Post [2] explained on Tuesday: 

Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell announced that, by the end of 2015, 9 million to 9.9 million Americans probably will be in health plans sold through the federal and state insurance exchanges created under the health-care law. The administration’s expectations are as much as roughly 30 percent beneath the most recent prediction of the Congressional Budget Office — that 13 million people will have health coverage through these exchanges next year.

Although the Post managed to prominently feature the bad news for Obama on page A1, the New York Times [4] buried it on A20 with the hopeful headline: "Estimate of Health Coverage Enrollment Leaves Room to Grow." Times writer Robert Pear seemed shocked at the "surprisingly modest estimate." 

On Monday, Fox's Bill Hemmer offered additional bad news: "The administration also reduced last year's completed enrollments from 7.3 to 7.1 million paying customers." 

A partial transcript of the November 10 Special Report on Fox News is below: 

6:00 

BILL HEMMER: This is a Fox News alert. The Obama administration once again moving its target on ObamaCare. I'm Bill Hemmer in Washington, Bret Baier has the night off. The government, tonight, is rolling back on expectations on the number of Americans who will sign up and that could have consequences. Chief national correspondent Jim Angle has tonight's top story. 

JIM ANGLE: Even though officials say they're confident healthcare.gov will work better this time, HHS secretary Sylvia Burwell gave a surprising projection today of new enrollments for 2015.  

SYLVIA BURWELL: Probably the market will grow between 25 and 30 percent this year. The number that we are going to aim for this year is 9.1 million. 

HEMMER: The administration also reduced last year's completed enrollments from 7.3 to 7.1 million paying customers. And even though the administration is predicting a 25 to 30 percent increase for 2015 over 2014, that number is substantially below projections from non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which predicted 13 million sign-ups for 2015