In case you missed it, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius basically admitted that she knew the Obamacare website was not ready to go on October 1st. But instead of joining House Republicans and call for a delay in the law, Sebelius was determined to open the doors on October 1st, even if the roof was going to cave in.
From Fox News Sunday:
WALLACE: Here’s how Secretary Sebelius explained the problems with the rollout this week. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, HHS SECRETARY: I think that their — in an ideal world, there would have been a lot more testing. We did not have the luxury of that with a law that said it’s go-time on October 1st.
Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) apparently caught the latest Saturday Night Live, as The Hill reports:
In one example, Sebelius’s attempts at downplaying the site’s problems were lampooned this weekend during “Saturday Night Live.”
The sketch, which poked fun at Sebelius as an upbeat manager in denial, led a Republican senator to blast the secretary as a “laughingstock” on Sunday.
“She’s … the laughingstock of America,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said on ABC’s “This Week.” “She’s lost considerable credibility.”
Video: Saturday Night Live mocks Secretary Seblius and the Obamacare rollout:
CBSNews.com: Policy cancellations, higher premiums add to frustration over Obamacare
For many, their introduction to the Affordable Care Act has been negative: a broken website, and now cancellation notices from insurance companies followed by sticker shock over higher prices for the new plans. It’s directly at odds with repeated assurances from the president, who has said “if you like your insurance plan, you will keep it. No one will be able to take that away from you.”
But people across the country are finding out they’re losing their existing insurance plans under Obamacare because requirements in the law, such as prenatal and prescription drug coverage, mean their old plans aren’t comprehensive enough.
In California, Kaiser Permanente terminated policies for 160,000 people. In Florida, at least 300,000 people are losing coverage.