On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tried unsuccessfully to get the Democratic-controlled Senate to delay the individual mandate included in President Barack Obamas federal health-care law due to the continued problems plaguing the marketplace website.
Rubio asked for unaninmous consent to pass his bill delaying the individual mandate until six months after the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) found Healthcare.gov was fully functional. The Senate denied Rubios request.
Taking to the floor of the Senate on Wednesday afternoon, Rubio stressed his bill would not repeal Obamas health care law. Rubio has called for repealing the law and defunding it.
I am in favor of repealing Obamacare and replacing it with a better alternative, Rubio said. But thats not what this bill does. All this bill says, this is the only thing it says, the only thing it says is that you cannot enforce the individual mandate, that you cannot tell people next year that we will fine you, that the IRS is going to impose a fine on you. You will not be able to do that until the website is fully working. In terms of this preventing people from getting health insurance, thats simply not accurate. This doesnt prevent anyone from going on to the website and signing up.
If the bill that I am proposing is adopted, it wouldnt keep anybody from signing up for health insurance under Obamacare, Rubio insisted. The only thing it would keep is the IRS from fining you if youre unable to do it. And the reason why that makes sense is because the way were supposed to do it, on a website, simply isnt working. So its just not accurate to say that this will somehow prevent people from buying health insurance. It doesnt. It doesnt prohibit you from trying to get it on the website. Its just a recognition that the website is not working well and theres a consequence to it. The consequence to it is: If they cant get these websites up and running, there are people that will not be able to buy health insurance, and theyre going to get fined for it. That doesnt sound fair to me.
So while I continue to want to repeal Obamacare, I think for the good of our people, its unfair to continue to hold over their head the threat of an IRS fine when the method of compliance that were asking them to follow isnt fully functioning, Rubio said.
Rubio cited letters and emails he had received from Floridians who were experiencing frustrations dealing with the website.
"I think our people, irrespective of how you feel about Obamacare, I think our people deserve better, Rubio said. I think there are a lot of people that would be shocked that the government is going to punish them for not buying insurance when the website that theyre being sent to buy it on doesnt work.
Rubio appeared on Greta Van Susterens program on Fox News Wednesday night to weigh in on why the individual mandate needs to be delayed.
I want to fully repeal Obamacare, Rubio said. I think were going to have to. As this thing rolls out, we are going to continue to see the disaster that it is and the impact that its having on people. But in the interim, were having real people call us every day about how concerned they are about the impact that its having on them. Here is why: Next year if they dont have health insurance that complies with Obamacare, the IRS is going to fine them, but the website theyre supposed to go on to buy that insurance doesnt work. And so my bill is pretty straightforward. Its kind of a common sense thing. It just says that you cant start enforcing those fines on people until the website is fully functional, and I dont understand why, but the Democrats have opposed it. I guess I do understand why and that is at this point, they are against any changes to the law even if the law is hurting people.
The House version of Rubios bill was introduced by U.S. Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla.
For his part, speaking on health care in Boston on Wednesday, Obama insisted the website was improving.
We've had a problem, Obama admitted in the speech. The website hasnt worked the way its supposed to over these last couple of weeks. And as a consequence, a lot of people havent had a chance to see just how good the prices for quality health insurance through these marketplaces really are.
Now, ultimately, this website, Healthcare.gov, will be the easiest way to shop for and buy these new plans, because you can see all these plans right next to each other and compare prices and see what kind of coverage it provides, Obama insisted. But, look, theres no denying it, right now, the website is too slow, too many people have gotten stuck. And I am not happy about it. And neither are a lot of Americans who need health care, and theyre trying to figure out how they can sign up as quickly as possible. So theres no excuse for it. And I take full responsibility for making sure it gets fixed ASAP. We are working overtime to improve it every day. Every day.
And more people are successfully buying these new plans online than they were a couple of weeks ago, and I expect more people will be able to buy conveniently online every single day as we move forward, Obama said. Were going to get these problems resolved.
In the meantime, Obama suggested people apply for coverage over the phone, or by mail, or in person, because those plans are waiting and youre still able to get the kind of affordable, reliable health insurance thats been out of reach for too many people for too long.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com.
