Vice President Joe Biden, speaking at a private fundraiser in Minneapolis, said that although there were problems with the roll out of Obamacare, if they get 5 or 6 million people signed up, that's "a hell of a start."

Except the administration has been saying for months that there needs to be at least 7 million enrollees to make the program work economically.

So...not such a "hell of a start," eh Joe?

Politico:

"We didn't want this to start off as shaky as it did," he said. "But it's complicated."

Not at all, Joe. Nothing complicated about extraordinary incompetence and stupidity, is there?

The administration's original projections were that 7 million would sign up during the open enrollment period, which started last year. Signing up enough individuals - especially younger, healthier people - is critical to keeping premiums low for everyone.

The pace of sign-ups has picked up substantially, with about 1 million enrolling in January - the first time the administration met its monthly target. But there's still a lot of catching up to do from the initial months.

In total, nearly 3.3 million had enrolled through the end of January. That's about 75 percent of what the administration had hoped to achieve by that point in the open enrollment period.

Biden's office said the four women picked to meet with Biden either signed up for insurance under the federal law, or have worked as a navigator assisting others in the signup process. In the brief conversation, Biden related several health crises in his own life, including a serious car accident and a brain aneurysm, saying he appreciated the sense of security knowing he could count on his insurance.

Biden's brain aneurysm occurred in 1988 so his insurance would certainly give him a sense of security since it was paid for by the US taxpayer.

It is significant that the administration is now admitting - albeit in a backhanded sort of fashion - that they will fail to reach their goal of 7 million enrollees. The real question is what the mix of young and healthy and old and sick enrollees there will be. That number will determine how big a bailout for the insurance industry will be necessary to keep them from abandoning the state exchanges.