Well today is the long awaited kickoff of Obamacare. President Obama promised that these health care exchanges would be ready by October 1st. Back in May, he said, “So here’s how this is going to work. We’re setting up a new online marketplace, where beginning October 1, you can go online or talk to organizations in every State that are going to have this set up, and you can then comparison shop an array of private health insurance plans. You can look at them side by side, just like you’d go online and compare cars.”
He reiterated this in July, “Beginning October 1st, Americans will be able to log on and comparison shop an array of private health insurance plans, side-by-side — just like you go online and compare the best deal on cars or the best deal on computers.”
What we’re seeing?
Chuck Todd of MSNBC reports that “the roll out is already hitting some rough patches this morning.”
They actually had to abandon their demonstration of how the Obamacare exchanges work.
Not that any of this is a surprise. Abby Goodnough in the New York Times reported back in September, “The federal government, which will operate all or part of the exchanges in more than 30 states that declined to create their own, mostly because of political opposition to the law, is having readiness problems of its own. In one example, the Obama administration said on Thursday that small businesses would not be able to buy coverage online through federally run exchanges until November.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that Obama officials kept hitting technical problems, “Obama administration officials scrambling to get the health law’s insurance marketplaces ready to open on Tuesday keep hitting technical problems, while government-funded field workers across the country say they aren’t fully prepared to help Americans enroll in the program.”
Are we getting a glimpse of the future? Some believe so.
“With the ObamaCare launch today, Americans are seeing the future of government run healthcare,”said Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips. “Promise after promise has been broken with higher costs, fewer choices and new taxes. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of so-called “glitches” throughout the country including numerous delays, a failing website, no website in Spanish, and no verification of income. We’re supposed to trust navigators who are given no background checks, yet can view the personal income information of millions of Americans. Add to that the diminished choice of doctors, rising premiums, and many new taxes, and we’re just beginning to see the real impact of ObamaCare.”
Sharon Begley at Reuters wrote, “from a political standpoint, a successful opening day will shape perceptions of Obama’s signature policy initiative.” The Wall Street Journal reported that young people may stay away. “Still, insurers worry younger, healthier adults who are critical to the health law’s success may give up on the exchanges because of early technical problems.”
Obama administration officials predicted a messy start as reported by The Washington Examiner, “Gary Cohen, deputy administrator and director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told a friendly audience at the Brookings Institution that the early kinks in ObamaCare should eventually even out, but that the beginning will be messy.”
A messy start to a messy program. The fact is that less than 1/5 of American families believe they will be better off under Obamacare. Isn’t it great President Obama and Senate Democrats shut down the government so we wouldn’t get an exemption?
Happy Obamacare Day!
Picture HT: The Comical Conservative