Democratic lawmaker: ObamaCare enrollment is low because millions think it was repealed

August 18, 2012: U.S. Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) addresses the We Are Woman rally for women's rights on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (Reuters)

Despite the Obama administration’s huge ObamaCare public relations campaign, one Democratic lawmaker says she thinks Americans aren’t signing up because they think the law was repealed.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., told MSNBC on Monday she believes one of the reasons enrollment for the new health care law is much lower than expected is Republican lawmakers have convinced the public it is no longer law.

She said it has been very difficult for the Democrats to break through that misconception.

“What we have been battling now is, first, every time the House couldn’t think of anything else to do, it had a big debate on repealing ObamaCare,” Norton said, according to Mediaite. “So, there are millions of people out there who think it was repealed.”

Norton said she believes once the fine for not having health insurance kicks in more people will realize they must have insurance and will sign up for ObamaCare.

However, a recent Fox News poll found that 40 percent of Americans believe ObamaCare will eventually be repealed and 54 percent believe it will remain law, suggesting that 94 percent of Americans are aware it is currently the law of the land.

The administration announced over the weekend that a little over a million people have signed up for ObamaCare so far, significantly less than the three million expected by this point.