JAMES TARANTO: Sorry, Charlie: Obama probably can’t undo the damage of the ObamaCare swindle.

There is ample evidence that the plans to be sold on the vaporware exchanges will frequently, perhaps usually, be poorer values than the canceled ones. And the 5% figure is very much a lowball estimate. Among others, it excludes people who’ll lose employer-provided insurance or see it downgraded as a result of ObamaCare’s mandates and incentives, as well as those affected by Medicare cuts.

But for the sake of argument, let’s accept the 5% figure as the number of Americans Obama now acknowledges having victimized with his “If you like your plan, you can keep it” swindle. The U.S. population is just over 317 million (that includes children, but so does the population affected by the ObamaCare cancellations). Five percent of 317 million is just under 16 million people.

Imagine if Bernie Madoff had swindled 16 million people.

No, that doesn’t quite do it justice. Imagine if Bernie Madoff had swindled 16 million people, many of whom never agreed, or had any desire, to do business with him in the first place.

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