It was the top headline of last Thursday’s Providence Journal: “Despite gamble, exchange pleased with 2015 signups.”  Reports Richard Salit:

Total enrollments for individuals now stands at 27,690, up from 25,288 just before the start of open enrollment in mid-November. …

HealthSource RI reports that, as of Wednesday, 6,918 people who were not previously customers had been signed up for coverage. Wallack called that figure “great.”

How does a journalist report that without noting, as Sean Parnell does on The Heartland Institute Web site, that 27,961 had enrolled by the end of last year’s open enrollment period?  The numbers may improve a little by next month, but thus far, the only reason there’s an increase is that people dropped out after enrolling last time around.

Parnell points out that HealthSource representatives do Rhode Islanders a disservice by not giving them a more objective sense of how the high-cost exchange is doing.  Writes Parnell:

Despite not coming close to their original goals, Rhode Island’s exchange leadership still touts the numbers as a success. A letter to then-Governor Lincoln Chafee from Ferguson in November 2014 requesting funding for the exchange’s operations in 2015 noted that “…27,961 Rhode Islanders had enrolled in coverage through the individual marketplace, more than doubling federal enrollment estimates.”

Ferguson continues to tout the 100,000 enrollee assumption as well. The letter to Chafee uses 100,000 enrollees as the basis for its financial calculations, which the Providence Journal reported in a story on November 19 is the “projected 2017 enrollment target.”

Of course, the news media has to be included in the accusation of disservice.  Do people buy the Providence Journal to improve their understanding of what’s going on in their state or to receive the government’s spin on what’s going on in their state?  The only (somewhat) outside-government voice in Salit’s article is Stephen Boyle, president of the Greater Cranston Chamber of Commerce, and he’s a proven booster of the exchange.

Speaking of boosters, one can’t help but notice the mention of HealthSource’s “outreach plan” in the Providence Journal article.  Not mentioned is that the paper, itself, is a big beneficiary of that plan, as evidenced by the quarter-page color ad for the exchange in its Sunday edition.