Ten Senate Democrats sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Friday urging her to bend on the individual mandate, by extending the ObamaCare enrollment deadline.
The list is growing, because so many are realizing that the government shutdown did not change the political winds in their individual races as much as the liberal media contends. But some of the Senate Democrats are joining in to give the letter more credibility, though it is obvious the reason for their reversal is political in nature.
Just a few weeks ago, the Senate Democrats fought the effort to delay the individual mandate to the point that they shutdown the federal government for over two weeks. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) initiated the letter. Earlier this week, she emerged as the first Senate Democrat to publicly call for a delay to the healthcare law to accommodate consumers experiencing issues with the website.
“As long as these substantial technology glitches persist, we are losing valuable time to educate and enroll people in insurance plans,” the letter reads in part. “Our constituents are frustrated, and we fear that the longer the website is not functional, opportunities for people to log on, learn about their insurance choices, and enroll will be lost.”
Sens. Mark Begich (D-AK), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Kay Hagan (D-NC), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Mark Udall (D-CO), Tom Udall (D-NM), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) also signed the letter.
Begich, Hagan, Landrieu and Pryor are red-state Democrats facing tough reelection bids in 2014. Bennett, Shaheen and Udall hail from purple states and could be vulnerable in a midterm election. In the Senate, Republicans need just 6 seats to capture the majority. The Republican National Committee has targeted Democratic incumbents and open seats in Arkansas (Pryor), Alaska (Begich), Louisiana (Landrieu), North Carolina (Hagan), Colorado (Bennet), Michigan (Open), Oregon (Merkley), Montana (Open) and New Hampshire (Shaheen).
“Given the existing problems with healthcare.gov and other state-run marketplace websites that depend on the federally-administered website, we urge you to consider extending open enrollment beyond the current end date of March 31, 2014,” the letter adds.
“Extending this period will give consumers critical time in which to become familiar with the website and choose a plan that is best for them. Individuals should not be penalized for lack of coverage if they are unable to purchase health insurance due to technical problems.”
All of a sudden these Senate Democrats are concerned about this? The government shutdown occurred because of their inability to recognize problems with a law, not just a site, which the Obama administration knew of when he was refusing to negotiate with Republicans calling for the delay.
The White House has already pushed back the deadline to buy health insurance by 6 weeks, because Democrats voiced concerns that the botched ObamaCare rollout would hurt their 2014 election bids and potentially prevent them from taking the House.
ObamaCare requires people to have health insurance by March 31, 2014, but in order to guarantee coverage will be in effect by that date, people must actually begin the process of applying for insurance no later than Feb. 15.
Under the change, now people who have signed up for insurance by the end of March will not face a penalty, even if they do not actually have the insurance.
Shaheen and the nine other Democrats are urging the White House to push back the March 31 deadline.
