Its been a bumpy road since sign-ups opened for the new health care exchanges afforded under President Barack Obamas new health care plan. From the beginning, the federal website for sign-ups was riddled with problems, with many Americans unable to sign up for health care plans.
The president vowed the website issues would be fixed, but official enrollment numbers released Wednesday painted a grim picture for the success of the health care rollout. Only a little over 106,000 Americans across the country were able to successfully sign up in the health care exchanges, a number well below the Obama administrations goal of 500,000 enrollees.
In Florida, only 3,571 people successfully signed up for health care. That number includes those who didnt pay for their plan, so the actual number could be much lower.
But some state legislators dont necessarily see the low enrollment numbers as a bad thing. Rep. Mia Jones, D-Jacksonville, seemed to believe the numbers were promising for the future of the health care plan.
Its an exciting time for us as were starting to look at [enrollment] numbers, she said in a press conference Thursday. She went on to explain that enrollment would continue to increase and said despite the many problems with sign-ups and a dropping approval rating, Floridians are still excited about the health care plans because they can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
While Jones initially said Floridians were supportive of the ACA, she later admitted shed only been talking to her own constituents about the plan.
My constituents are still supportive of the Affordable Care Act, said Jones. They have had to make some hard decisions, and ... they understand that things happen. I dont know too many computer systems that go up and work perfectly, but they recognize that they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. They are still excited about that opportunity.
Millions of Americans received notices that their plans had been canceled as a result of the presidents signature health-care law. Florida Blue canceled about 300,000 individual-market policy plans as a result of Obamacare. The insurance company attempted to placate angry customers by telling them their plans hadnt been canceled, but customers would instead be migrating to new plans.
On Thursday, the president announced that the government would be allowing people with individual insurance policies to keep them for another year, even if they do not comply with the laws rules for minimum benefits.
The decision to extend policies runs counter to a central aim of the law, which was to ensure that all people in the U.S. with private health plans are guaranteed at least certain benefits.
We fumbled the rollout on this health care law, said Obama, who said he he did not realize the full extent of the health care sites problems until after its launch.
Obamas own popularity and the favorability of the health care law have plummeted. Polls on the presidents health care plan show the approval rating collapsing. A Gallup poll released Thursday showed 40 percent of Americans approve of the Affordable Care Act, while more than half -- 55 percent -- disapprove.
The poll came on the heels of a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday which showed the president's approval rating had plummeted to 39 percent. On top of that, a majority of voters said they don't consider the president honest or trustworthy.
Obama took his medicine at the press conference and admitted he would have to work hard to gain back the trust of the American people.
"We're going to solve the problems that are there, we're going to get it right, and the Affordable Care Act is going to work for the American people," he pledged.
Republicans were still displeased over the health care rollout, with House Speaker John Boehner insisting it was time to scrap this law once and for all.
"You can't fix this government-run health care plan called Obamacare ," he said. "It's just not fixable."
Reach Tampa-based reporter Allison Nielsen at Allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter at @AllisonNielsen.
