With Americans continuing to have problems with Healthcare.gov, the marketplace website for President Barack Obamas federal health-care law, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is calling to delay IRS penalties on Americans who do not purchase health care due to the website.
The website continues to have technical problems, something Obama supporter Janice Baker pointed out as she introduced the president at a Rose Garden event on Monday.
I have the privilege to say that I'm the first person in the state of Delaware to enroll for health insurance through the new marketplace," Baker said. Like many consumers out there, it took me a number of frustrating attempts before I could apply for and select my plan. I kept trying because I needed access to the new health care options.
I'm here today to encourage other people like me who need access to quality, affordable insurance, and to tell them to have patience with such a new system, Baker added. Without this ability to get this insurance, I know that a single hospital stay could have bankrupted me and my business.
Youve probably heard that HealthCare.gov -- the new website where people can apply for health insurance, and browse and buy affordable plans in most states -- hasn't worked as smoothly as it was supposed to work, Obama admitted. And the number of people who have visited the site has been overwhelming, which has aggravated some of these underlying problems. Despite all that, thousands of people are signing up and saving money as we speak
Obama promised his team was trying to solve the problems. Initially, the Obama administration said the website problems resulted from glitches. For those whove had some problems with the website, I want to tell you what were doing to make it work better and how you can sign up to get covered in other ways, Obama said. But before I do that, let me remind everybody that the Affordable Care Act is not just a website. It's much more. For the vast majority of Americans -- for 85 percent of Americans who already have health insurance through your employer or Medicare or Medicaid -- you dont need to sign up for coverage through a website at all. You've already got coverage.
So the fact is, the product of the Affordable Care Act for people without health insurance is quality health insurance thats affordable," Obama insisted. And that product is working. Its really good. And it turns out theres a massive demand for it. So far, the national website, HealthCare.gov, has been visited nearly 20 million times. Twenty million times. And theres great demand at the state level as well, because there are a bunch of states that are running their own marketplaces.
The problem has been that the website thats supposed to make it easy to apply for and purchase the insurance is not working the way it should for everybody, Obama said. And theres no sugarcoating it. The website has been too slow, people have been getting stuck during the application process. And I think its fair to say that nobody is more frustrated by that than I am -- precisely because the product is good, I want the cash registers to work. I want the checkout lines to be smooth. So I want people to be able to get this great product. And theres no excuse for the problems, and these problems are getting fixed.
Obama insisted the website is still working for a lot of people -- just not as quick or efficient or consistent as we want," and pointed out were only three weeks into a six-month open enrollment period, when you can buy these new plans.
Rubio, who has been a leading critic of the health care law, announced Tuesday he will be introducing a bill to delay increased taxes for Americans who choose not to carry health care insurance, either through programs offered at their jobs or through the federal program, due to the continuing problems with the website.
Rubio staffers informed Sunshine State News on Tuesday that the senator would introduce the bill next week when the Senate returns. Staff also told Sunshine State News the bill is still being drafted and it was premature to announce a House sponsor.
On Tuesday morning, Rubio made the rounds on television shows to talk about his proposal.
I think there are those two separate issues that we need to confront, Rubio said on This Morning on CBS. The first is whether Obamacare should even exist or function. Obviously, I believe it should be repealed and replaced, but thats a separate issue from the one that Im raising now with regard to this law that I intend to introduce. What Im arguing is this: The law says very clearly if, at some point next year, you do not have health insurance, you havent bought it, the IRS, youre going to owe them money, a penalty. You talked about it in the package that introduced this segment. The reality of it is its unfair to punish people for not purchasing a product that they cant purchase right now because the technology thats in place, the website theyre supposed to buy it on -- by the presidents own admission -- is not working. So, all Im calling for is a delay on that requirement, until the General Accounting Office of the United States certifies that the website is up and working and functioning and has been functioning for six consecutive months. I think thats a prudent approach.
Rubio continued pushing that message on Fox and Friends" on Fox News Tuesday morning.
Next year, everyone will be required to purchase health insurance, Rubio said. If you dont, youre going to owe the IRS money. Thats called the individual mandate. One of the ways that that becomes available, according to this brilliant idea called Obamacare, is to make these exchanges available online. But theyre not working. So how are you going to go after people next year using the IRS to punish them if the thing youre forcing them to buy isnt available for them to buy because the websites not working? You know, Consumer Reports yesterday warned people to stay off the websites until they figure this out. So the law Im going to introduce basically delays that requirement until the General Accounting Office has certified that its been up and running and effectively working for six months consecutive. And I think thats a prudent approach given the problems that its facing by the White Houses own admission.
Rubio ripped Obama for not being upfront with the American people about the problems of the sites.
The fact is, there is no transparency, Rubio said on Fox and Friends on Tuesday morning. Theyre not sharing accurate numbers as to how well or not well its working, how many people have actually been able to enroll in insurance, and receive it or not. Theyre not being transparent, which is just adding more and more doubt to this entire process. Theyve argued now that theyre going to have this tech surge and bring all these experts in to fix these websites. They wont tell us who exactly theyre bringing in and they wont tell us how much theyre spending on it. What theyre worried about is increased criticism of the law if they actually open it up and show people all the ugly things that are going on in the implementation, but I think its proven to be quite counterproductive.
Rubio, who is a possible candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, has called for defunding the health care law in recent months.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com.
