Hey, at least dogs aren't having a problem getting on Obamacare.

Shane Smith of Fort Collins, Colo., recently found a little surprise when he signed up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act. After proceeding through all the registration hurdles with Connect for Health Colorado, he learned that his dog Baxter had gotten insured, not Smith himself.

Smith said he guessed the mistake happened when he gave Baxter's name as one of the security questions. “It was pretty funny," Smith said. "Typical Obamacare, that they would insure your dog by mistake.”



Smith indicated that the error was resolved fairly quickly. (We like to imagine the insurance coverage discussion with Baxter went something like this.)





Connect for Health Colorado released the following statement: "In general, our letters to customers are generated according to information that is provided by the customer into the system either online or over the phone. In other words, our system does not make up a name when generating a letter. As with any new system, mistakes are possible and when notified by customers, we work quickly to resolve the situation.”

Supporters and critics of Obamacare will surely go to great and absurd lengths to paint this understandable clerical error as evidence of the program's total failure. But there's another way to look at it: Obamacare is taking care of your pets, too!



Of course, you'll have about as much trouble explaining their policy to them as signing them up, but that's the price we pay for universal pet care coverage.



Contact Jay Busbee at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or on Twitter at @jaybusbee.