White House overcounted ACA enrollment by up to 400k

An investigation by a Congressional committee discovered that Obama administration officials inflated ACA enrollment statistics by as many as 400,000 people by including stand-alone dental plans in their official count (Source: “Administration ‘erroneously’ overcounted Obamacare enrollees,” Washington Post, Nov. 20, 2014). 

The administration in September said 7.3 million people at the time were enrolled in health plans through the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplaces. The House investigation, however, found that the number also counted people enrolled in just dental coverage, a change from how previous enrollment figures have been counted that the Obama administration did not disclose. Without counting those dental plans, enrollment would have been 6.97 million.

That 7.3 million figure reported by the Department of Health and Human Services was down from the 8 million people who had signed up through the end of April. HHS hasn't provided a comprehensive accounting of why enrollment fell — such as how many people didn't pay their premiums or whether those enrollees found another source of coverage.