i'm paul gigot. happy new year. hope to see you here next year. a fox news alert. obamacare seeing a surge in enrollment as americans scramble to get health insurance in time for the new year. i'm gregg jarrett. welcome to fox news. the obama administration says more than 1 million people have signed up online. over 900,000 in december alone. that compares to a mere 27,000 in the month of october when healthcare.gov made its troubled debut. but with millions of individual policies canceled because of it, the long-term success of the health care overhaul is still uncertain. jim engle live from washington. is this improvement big enough?

>> it's the best news for the administration since the rollout began though that's a pretty low bar. with december enrollment seven times the two previous months. but one analyst told "fox news sunday" today they're still way behind. listen. >> they only announced 1.1 million. there were 900,000 december 22nd so we haven't seen the rush we thought we'd see. >> now, this is not including enrollment in state-run exchanges. nevertheless, the recent surge in ep rollments doesn't come close to covering some 5 million individuals' policies who were canceled because they didn't cover all that obamacare requires. each of those plans can affect a couple or a family, meaning 10 million, 15 million, or 20 million people had their coverage canceled and were trying to replace it. stale long way to go just to get back to even. >> jim, one of the key concerns here is also, you know, what kind of folks are truly enrolling. are they seniors? are they older, you know, sick people? are they young people?

what do we know about that? >> well, the early signs are troubling to those of all stripes. the key of course as you suggest is how many young and healthy versus older and sicker americans are signing up, which will determine whether obamacare is financially viable. listen to this. >> if you look at the demographic data in the underlying trends in who's enrolling, there's evidence that the less healthy population than what the plans certainly hoped for and older. >> it shows less healthy people are signing up. younger people are signing up less frequently than hoped. >> now, obamacare plans also often make it difficult to see specialists and de $5,000 or more mean many people will have to spend a lot of their own money before they get any financial help at all. howard dean, however, argued republicans have long favored higher deductibles for good reasons. >> put more skin in the game, they'll be more carable about what they spend.

now we have sh this spectacle of republicans attacking the high deductibles because they're desperate to attack the plan in any manner. >> uninsured may be shocked after the administration touted coverage as low as $50 to $100 a month, making it sound less expensive than several thousand dollars out of pocket before any reimbursement. >> jim angle thanks so much. new reaction to a "new york times" report casting doubt on al qaeda's involvement in that delgadoly attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi september 11th of last year. instead, this report claims that the assault was fueled by anger over an american-made video mocking islam and carried out by islamic terrorist groups. now, the raid on our consulate ended in the death of four americans -- ambassador chris stephens, state department official sean smith, navy s.e.a.l.s glen doherty, and tyrone woods. wendell goler is in honolulu where the president is vacationing.

wendell? >> reporter: well, gregg, the president saidly they have no issue with "the new york times" report which as you said found no evidence that al qaeda planned the attack on the benghazi consulate. it involved fighters from different militia groups who'd benefited from nato's attacks on moammar gadhafi's troops and were as anti-american as they were anti-gada dpi. the report also says the video the obama administration blamed did play a role but michigan republican congressman mike rodders is skeptical. >> there was some level of preplanning. we know that. there was aspiration to conduct an attack by al qaeda and their affiliates in libya. we know that. the individuals on the ground talked about a planned tactical movement on the compound even this is the compound before they went to the annex. all of that was directly contradictory to what "the new york times" definitively says was an exhaustive investigation.

>> reporter: four americans were killed in the 2012 attack including u.s. ambassador chris stephens. some republicans accused the president and then secretary of state hillary clinton of understating al qaeda's involvement for political reasons. administration officials feel "the times" report undercut that argument, but california democrat adam schiff is also skeptical of the claim that al qaeda played no part. >> i agree with mike that however the intelligence indicates that al qaeda was involved, but there were also plenty of people and militias that were unaffiliated with al qaeda that were involved. i think the intelligence paints a portrait that some people came to murder, some came to destroy property, some merely came to loot and some came in part motivated by those videos. >> reporter: congressman schiff says "the new york times" report does not exonerate the state department for security lapses that left americans vulnerable on the 11th anniversary of the 20019/11 attacks. gregg? >> wendell goler live in

honolulu, thanks very much. new revelations now on surveillance practices within an elite group working for the nsa. now, according to a german magazine, highly skilled hackers have intercepted computer deliveries exploiting hardware vulnerabilities, even hijacked microsoft bug report systems to spy on its targets and, quote, get the ungettable. this information was rorpted by gathered from documents released by admitted nsa leaker edward snowden and comes months after allegations that the u.s. tapped the cell phone of german chancellor angela merkel. in the meantime, two federal judges handing down opposing rulings on the constitutionality of that agency's telephone data collection program and millions of americans connected to it, the lack of consensus possibly paving a way for a u.s. supreme court battle. more from washington.

>> reporter: a federal judge recently ruled the nsa's bulk data collection is okay because it can stop terrorist attacks. another federal judge, richard leon, says the nsa's bulk data collection not okay because there's no proof it can stop terrorist attacks. now one former cia director is pointing out what he believes is a key difference in those roger goodellings aside from the obvious headlines. >> judge pauly relied on precedent. judge leon relied on exclamation points throughout his judgment, not precedent. >> reporter: inside the beltway there is some difference of opinion about the value of edward snowden's disclosures but bipartisan agreement that his motives are still suspicious. >> you know, he has kindled an important public debate, but frankly i think it came from a mixture of motivations on his part. >> he stole american classified documents that, because of their release, jeopardizes our troops in the field in places like afghanistan. >> reporter: this week "the washington post" reported that snowden said his mission is accomplished.

now his lawyer says he's ready to come home if laws are changed to preserve his freedom. >> mr. snowden's disclosures have been profoundly valuable to the country and to the world. they've really changed the whole debate here. and i also think that there is much the united states has gained through conversation with him. >> since federal judges are so far split, snowden's lawyer also says it's time for the supreme court to decide once and for all if the nsa's bulk data collection are constitutional. gregg? >> peter doocy in washington thanks very much. a suspected killer during a robbery could be the same dangerous criminal wanted for killing a police officer. we're going to tell you if they got the right man. and a deadly terror attack in russia now raising new fears over the safety of the winter olympics. and brand-new details on the attempt to rescue that research ship still stranded in the coldest place on earth.

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other top stories, one attempted robbery in atlanta, and another in tupelo, mississippi. in tupelo, the suspect shot and killed an officer and a second officer was woundeded in the gunfight. today the fbi agent in charge of the case explained how all three robberies are linked. >> there were mnumerous similarities between the bank robberies that occurred in atlanta, tupelo, and phoenix. the clothing worn by the subject. the object is subject used to prop open the door, statements uttered during the robberies and overall mow ddus operandw dudus

bank robber. >> they used cell phone records to link the suspect to all three states. new developments in the case of the california girl declared brain-dead by doctors after routine tonsil surgery. vigils carrying into a third week and now the family of the girl is trying to transfer her to a facility in new york but has agreed, apparently, to keep her on life support, all of this before the court order giving the doctors the okay to remove her from a ventilator. that goes into effect just over 24 hours from now. dominic di natale lee has more. >> reporter: the clock is certainly ticking. they don't want media attention. there's been plenty of it to hurt the girl's chances of being accepted there. now, a vigil was held saturday at the children's hospital in oakland where the 16-year-old is on life support there, on a ventilator at this time. the family's lawyer saying this really is their last hope, gregg, after two facilities here in california that had

previously agreed to accept her backed out. fibs a nursing home in southern california changed its mind, then a facility in the l.a. area said it didn't want any media attention, nor did it want to jeopardize its relationship with its doctor who is apparently had refused to treat someone who's been declared brain-dead. it has been a wrenching 48 hours for the family and time is running out. the court-ordered deadline, as you say, gregg, 5:00 p.m. tomorrow. the family continues to be at the children's hospital in oakland where she is. >> what this hospital is doing is telling this family, we're going to decide what happens to her, not you, even if it kills her, and that's absurd. >> reporter: well, the children's hospital saying it will do everything legally and ethically permissible to support her including a lawful transfer of her body in its current state. but they are at odds with the

family over the media attention here. >> the judge declared her brain-dead and deceased. this becomes at a certain point a very sad thing for the attorney to perpetuate a myth that she will get better. she unfortunately won't. she's dead. >> reporter: now, as far as we know, the children's hospital hasn't heard from any facility about this. the family is currently raising funds at an oakland church and also online to cover her transportation. looks like they'll easily meet the $20,000 they were aiming for. they're about a thousand bucks shy of that at the moment. the family's lawyer said the medical director had spoken with each other. details still to be worked out. gregg, back to you. >> dominic, thank you. new video just in from a terror attack in russia showing a bomb blowing up at a busy train station. officials say at least 16 people are now dead, dozens more

wounded. a homicide bomber setting off the explosion in a city about 550 miles south of moscow. right now there are conflicting reports on whether the bomber was a man or a woman. the attack, though, raising concerns about terrorism ahead of the february winter olympics in sochi. no one is claiming responsibility for the bombing as yet, but it comes just months after a chechen rebel leader called for attacks ahead of the games. two men arrested after a fire on a north sea ferry, the boat burst into flames shortly after leaving england heading to amsterdam. crews managed to put the fire out quickly but two crew members and four passengers were injured. there were nearly 950 passengers on board at the time. a 26-year-old man charged with arson, a 28-year-old arrested in a fight that broke out after the fire. millions are bracing for another round of extreme weather just one week after an ice storm knocked out electricity in the

same region. we're going to show you who is in the path of this latest storm. and the obama administration coming forward early with new health care enrollment numbers. healthcare.gov has surpassed the 1 million people mark. but is it enough to make um for obamacare's disastrous rollout? ♪ ho ho ho [ female announcer ] at 100 calories, not all food choices add up. some are giant.

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. a weather alert now, another winter storm could be bringing heavy snow to northern new england. forecasters calling for six more inches of the white stuff for parts of vermont, new hampshire, and this is one week after an i storm knocked out power to almost 90,000 people in the same area. crews, though, are making

progress. the lights are now back on for most people, except a few thousand scattered outages. well, moving now to an australian ice breaker. it's about 30 miles away from the rushing ship still stuck in an anarctic ice. we're going to keep you posted on this developing story. well, the white house is releasing new enrollment numbers for health insurance under obamacare. it says more than 1.1 million people have signed up on healthcare.gov. ahead of the headlines, coverage beginning january 1. now, the enrollment surge is helping to make up for disappointing numbers in october and november. they were really anemic. still, some analysts say the

chaos from the troubled it rollout will be hard to recover from. joining us is a columnist for national review magazine. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> they are doing cartwheels out there on the white house lawn. 1.1 million have allegedly enrolled. they seem to have forgotten the 6 million plans that have been canceled, by that, they have lost their insurance courage. how would you analyze this? >> well, the website is doing better but there are a lot of numbers that the white house is not giving us. 1.1 million enrolled. how many of them have paid the premiums? because if you don't pay your premium, it's true the white house has asked insurance companies to basically give people a pass the first month. if you don't pay your premium, you're not really covered by insurance. second question, the state exchanges have given us numbers on who these people are but the

federal exchange won't give us any numbers. the state exchanges tell us the people who have signed up are much older than they expected because they want young people because they paid premiums and don't take health care benefits very much and the second thing is a lot of people have health problems, which is why they are willing to take programs that have very high deductibles. don't have high deductibles. >> isn't it true that it's skewed towards older and sicker americans and their health care is more expensive. experts say this could lead to what is known as a debt spiral in which obamacare really collapses under its own weight and then the insurance companies have to be bailed out by a risk corridor that is written into the law and taxpayers foot the bill for that. is that right? >> there's $25 billion in the obamacare to compensate insurance companies from transitioning from the old system to this system. i don't think that's going to be

enough. the think the administration is willing to make 15 million changes in this law without consulting congress will be willing to go beyond 25 billion and bail out the insurance companies. they have made problems for us, too. i cannot imagine anything that is more politically unpopular than the federal government taking people's tax dollars and bailing out insurance companies that until very recently were making record profits. >> clearly some people are going to benefit. "the washington post" has a story today about most people who get subsidies and benefit tremendously. but at what cost? this is $2.6 trillion in cost to taxpayers and at the end of ten years you're going to still have 31 million americans uninsured because the money could have been more used constructively. >> well, clearly we have a problem and we should have addressed people with pre-existing conditions and people who couldn't access condition, they would have created risk pools.

the real tragedy i think of the obamacare is for the poor. 40% or more of the people who are going to get this new insurance aren't going to get insurance. they are going to be dumped into medicaid which is the poverty program for poor people. and i have to tell you, all of the studies show, since 58% of doctors won't take medicaid patients, it's substandard medicine. i wouldn't take my doctor to it, frankly. if nothing changes, and of course things change in politics very quickly, we've seen a complete turn around in the numbers for how people plan to vote for next november. two months ago, before the obamacare crashed, democrats had an 8-point lead in voting congress over republicans. now republicans have a 5-point lead. i have to say, if that holds true, you'll see a blood bath. that's why i think democratic senators in states that mitt romney carried or obama ordinary narrowly carried, they are going to say we need more changes in

obamacare to get this off our political back. >> you point out, though, that sometimes republicans in the individual races nominate somebody who has hit the self-destruct button because there are conservatives and those issues. what do you think? >> that has happened in the past. todd akin comes to mind. it's also happened in the past that establishment candidates have been nominated that turned off the tea party or libertarian voters. those are states mitt romney carried by over 20 points and yet republican moderates continued to lose. >> john, great column. thanks very much. that's it. a healthy you with carol alt is coming up next. hope you have a great week, everybody. bye-bye. [ sneezes, coughs ]

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welcome to "healthy you." i'm carol alt. what are gmos? don't have a clue? don't worry. most people don't know. but what's even scarier is people ingest it every day of their life and they don't even know it. it's in our food and it could be causing you disease. plus, two-thirds of the population is overweight. that's more than 105 million people. why is it that america is so fat? is it something that we're doing or not