Technical difficulties on the federal marketplace website and political issues continue to plague the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
In a recent news conference, President Obama sought to address some of the concerns surrounding the rollout. He stated that although the rollout has been a “complex process,” his administration could have done a better job from day one. The president went on to say, his goals are to identify the problems and work on fixing them.
The website: “Despite all the problems that we’ve seen with the website, more than 500,000 Americans could know the security of health care by Jan. 1, many of them for the first time in their lives. We’re working 24/7 to get it working for the vast majority of Americans in a smooth, consistent way.”
Protecting current insurance plans: “State insurance commissioners still have the power to decide what plans can and can’t be sold in their states, but the bottom line is insurers can extend current plans that would otherwise be canceled into 2014. And Americans whose plans have been canceled can choose to re-enroll in the same kind of plan.”
In a statement released Nov. 20, Indiana State Insurance Commissioner Stephen Robertson, said the Indiana Department of Insurance would not require insurance providers to extend their plans. “Such action would seriously destabilize Indiana’s insurance market and create logistical chaos, fueling even more uncertainty for Hoosiers.” Robertson went on to say that the IDOI had the authority under Indiana law to fulfill President Obama’s request to insurers.
In a letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Robertson expressed thoughts on the “general failure” of the marketplace and the need to extend the life of ICHIA, which covers high-risk individuals with pre-existing conditions, to accommodate for the website’s technical challenges. The commissioner ended with a request for a prompt estimation of when Sebelius expected the marketplace to become fully functional.
A recent poll released by Ball State University and WISH-TV reveals that Hoosier support for ACA, also known as Obamacare, is waning. Of those surveyed, 43 percent now have a favorable view of ACA while 52 percent have an unfavorable view. This statistic differs from a year ago when more were in favor of the act.
Despite the issues, there are some who are looking forward to potentially being able to receive health insurance coverage under Obamacare. The Ball State poll revealed that 53 percent of 18-24 year olds surveyed, were in support of the ACA and would like it to be fully implemented.
To date, enrollment figures show that 846,184 applications have been completed on the marketplace but only 106,185 have chosen plans. Reports have shown that state exchanges are performing better than the federal marketplace.
For more information on the ACA or to apply visit healthcare.gov.
Indiana, a state that decided to not expand Medicaid or create a state exchange under the federal umbrella, continues to push for the expansion of the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP), which is described as a “consumer-directed alternative.” According to a news release from the governor’s office, Gov. Mike Pence has requested a meeting with Secretary Sebelius, to discuss the state’s pending waiver to expand HIP. Medicaid advocates Commonsense Health Plan and Cover Indiana, rallied at the Statehouse in November. These advocates are not in favor of HIP expansion instead citing that 400,000 Hoosiers could be better benefited by expanding Medicaid.
UPDATE 4:03 pm ET : In a conference call Tuesday afternoon with elected officials, Sebelius stated that the federal site healthcare.gov is on track to becoming a “significantly different user experience” by the end of November.
