Chad Henderson talks Thursday about his Internet experience applying insurance through the Affordable Care Act website.A day after a 21-year-old Flintstone, Ga., man became the subject of national media attention – including a front page Times Free Press story – for being one of the first Americans to actually get through Obamacare’s glitchy website and enroll for coverage, he acknowledged that he hadn’t completed that process.
Amidst the initial publicity, Chad Henderson was hailed by supporters of the Affordable Care Act as an example of the new system working, and was attacked by those against the law for buying into the plan and for being a volunteer for Organized for Action, a nonprofit promoting President Barack Obama’s agenda.
Today, a libertarian magazine, Reason, called Henderson’s account into question after a conversation with Henderson’s father, who said that he and his son had not actually bought a plan off of the Obamacare site yet.
In an interview today with the Times Free Press, Chad Henderson confirmed that he hadn’t actually purchased a plan, but he insisted he hadn’t lied. He said the confusion was in the wording.
“I never actually said I purchased a plan,” he said. “I said that I submitted an application, and so I enrolled. I haven’t actually paid for a plan, though I found one that I liked. I never meant to mislead anyone.”