Predictable History, Unpredictable Past: Sports Stadiums, Disney World, Chipotle: Sizing Up the Obamacare Enrollee Figure

14 November 2013

Sports Stadiums, Disney World, Chipotle: Sizing Up the Obamacare Enrollee Figure

By Andrew Johnson

They’re here and they’re low — real low. At just 27,000, the paltry Healthcare.gov enrollment total is even less than what some experts warned it would be earlier in the week, and way below what the White House estimated it needed for the law to be successful. In order to get a better grasp of the figure, here are eleven helpful measures to go by:

1. The enrollees could all squeeze into President Obama’s law-school alma mater’s football field, Harvard Stadium, with room to spare: 30,323 seats.

2. There are currently just about as many Jayhawks enrolled at the University of Kansas, where Kathleen Sebelius received her MBA, as have enrolled on Healthcare.gov so far: 27,784 students.

3. Fewer than one-third of the total number of employees that head in to work for Sebelius at the Department of Health and Human Services were successfully able to get through the federal website: 83,745 (2011).

4. Coincidence? Sebelius just happened to have the same number of Twitter followers as Healthcare.gov enrollees on the day of the figures’ release.

5. The one-month figure is about the same as the population of Kentucky’s capital, Frankfort. Democrats have hailed the state for its functioning exchange.

6. More Americans undergo a background check to purchase a gun each day since President Obama took office than have enrolled on Healthcare.gov: 46,455.

7. According to estimates from Chipotle Mexican Grill’s CEO, the company serves more customers per hour (roughly 31,250) than the Obama administration was able to sign up last month.

8. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy welcome nearly twice as many visitors to the Magic Kingdom every day as Obama and Sebelius have been able to enroll: 48,043 visitors.

9. The middling San Diego Padres averaged as many fans per game (26,749; 20th in Major League Baseball overall) as Healthcare.gov enrolled users last month.

10. The number of enrollees is about equal to the number of passengers who fly through Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport every two and a half hours.