Reports that sign-ups for ObamaCare have hit eight million and that the law is now “working” are being met with skepticism — for good reason. Sure, there are people getting insurance who didn’t have it. But, the Administration has so far refused to disclose how many newly enrolled Americans have paid their first premium, the component needed for their insurance to truly begin. We also don’t know how many Americans lost insurance plans they liked due to ObamaCare mandates. And, we don’t know how many are now getting inferior coverage, are paying higher premiums, or have lost the ability to continue with their doctors and hospitals.

Now, we may never get the real measure of the imposition of ObamaCare and how it affected the populace, because right in the middle of its rollout, the U.S. Census Bureau is changing how it counts health care.

Since 1987, the Current Population Survey, CPS, has collected information on health insurance coverage. These surveys have been considered quite accurate because of their large sample size. This year the CPS is changing its household insurance questions, an action which was supposed to improve accuracy and usefulness, but which will destroy the ability to compare pre and post-ObamaCare status.

Numbers like 45 to 50 million uninsured were used to secure the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2009 and 2010. Thesewere later found to include illegal immigrants and are now said to have been overreported relative to other surveys. With this change, the numbers will be adjusted down. The Census Bureau will show a lower percentage of the populace as uninsured. Voila! Instant evidence that ObamaCare is a success!

The Wall Street Journal stated, “For changes this substantial, standard procedure would be to ask the new and old questions concurrently.” The Journal points out that this reset means: “the old data series can’t be compared to the new one going forward….” and that this is “a statistical break that prevents researchers from identifying before-and-after trends with precision and validity.” The Journal says the decision to make these changes during this major disruption in health insurance markets was either “political” or a sign of “gross incompetence.”

The New York Times’ Richard Pear found a Census Bureau memo that called the timing of this change “coincidental and unfortunate.” It is unfortunate that results of the Affordable Care Act will be muddied in this way. But it is not “coincidental.”

One stat we know. For the numbers to work, ObamaCare needed 40 percent of sign-ups to be young people ages 18-34. This figure is only at about 28 percent. Insuring the uninsured was the point of this massive law. Even the eight million sign-ups that are being celebrated right now don’t come close to achieving that goal. Plus, huge numbers of newly signed-up people preferred their old coverage. Statistical manipulation will not prevent ObamaCare from being a political problem for those who supported it.