Today the ObamaCare deadline for most Americans to have health insurance beginning January 1 hits, but a rash of administration “fixes” and delays is watering down the deadline into a day that for many Americans will underscore the uncertainty about the future of the law.
The ObamaCare deadline also comes as a new CNN/Opinion Research poll shows a new all-time high in disapproval, with 35 percent saying they approve and a new-high — 65 percent — disapproving. The Obama administration is making a final push to get as many people as possible signed up for health care coverage by the end of the ObamaCare deadline, Monday.
Aside from site announcements, the District of Columbia government sent out someone from the DC health exchange, DC Health Link, to one of the city’s gay clubs to sign people up. A range of last-minute pushes will be searching for “consumers’ high on low throughout the day.
The law originally stated that Americans who enrolled in ObamaCare, online or by paper filing, by December 23 and paid their first premium in full would have insurance when coverage kicks in New Year’s Day.
But the disastrous October 1 start for the federal website, as well as some state-run sites — which as plagued by crashes and the dissemination of incorrect information — sent President Obama and other top administration officials scrambling to change the law in hopes of bolstering enrollment numbers.
In his final press conference of the year, the president expressed confidence that the “fixes” and delays have helped, claiming that December enrollment skyrocketed. However, a new report released by HHS showed the administration is far behind on their projected numbers.
On Sunday, he restated his case that ObamaCare is on the right track but urged those who had yet to enroll to do so by Monday.
“The law is working,” he said in a statement. “If you don’t have health insurance, go to [the site] right now and sign up. If you do it before December 23rd, you can be covered on the first day of the New Year. … I’m asking you to spread the word about getting covered.”
Among the first changes for individual insurance was the president’s proposed legislative fix in mid-November, amid the issuing of millions of insurance cancellation notices. Obama gave insurers the option to extend plans to customers for an extra year, even if the plans failed to meet ObamaCare standards.
“I completely get how upsetting this can be for a lot of Americans,” the president said at the time. “Americans whose plans have been canceled can choose to enroll in the same kind of plan.”
However, the move drew sharp criticism from congressional Republicans and other ObamaCare critics.
“There is no way to fix this,” House Speaker John Boehner said. “I am highly skeptical they can do this administratively.”
Speaker Boehner was echoed by Senator Tom Colburn on “Meet The Press” Sunday. “You can’t fix this mess,” he said.
Still, some Democrats remain realistically optimistic about the future of the law. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” that the law’s performance is what would matter.
“At the end of the day, if it’s so much more expensive than what we anticipated and that the coverage is not as good as what we’ve had, you’ve got a complete meltdown at that time. So this transitional year gives you a chance to adjust the products to the market. And to see if the market will absorb and buy the product,” he said.
Last week, administration officials again asked insurers to accept partial payments or backdate policies for those who enroll after Monday so that Americans will have insurance by January 1.
They also said the estimated 500,000 who had yet to replace cancelled policies could get catastrophic coverage and that around 3.9 million lower-income Americans have qualified for ObamaCare in the Medicaid expansion, supposedly closing the enrollment gap created by the estimated 4 million to 5 million cancellations.
The president said Friday that 1 million Americans through the third week in December had enrolled in ObamaCare. It was an increase compared to just 365,000 Americans who had enrolled through November 30. But the number remains far short of the 3.3 million the administration had hoped for prior to the October rollout.
Still, several underlying problems persist, including the accuracy of the numbers and how many of those enrolled have in fact paid for their policies.
Such problems could create far more serious consequences in the coming weeks should people who think they have insurance under ObamaCare go to a pharmacy or doctor’s office and find out otherwise.
In addition, the complexity of the law, including who is exempt from what, will continue to confuse Americans, Robert Moffit, director of The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Health Policy Studies, told FoxNews.com on Friday.
“This whole thing has turned into a rat’s nest of rules and regulations,” he said. “Who would have thought Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius would grant so many hardships? … This administration is under the mindset of how America is supposed to work, which has nothing to do with how it really works.”
The White House’s ultimate goal is to provide insurance for an estimate 30 million Americans, which includes subsidizing costs for low-income individuals. But many experts are saying that come the new year, with more than 6 million Americans receiving cancellations, we may come to find that more Americans are uninsured than before the law. The ObamaCare deadline to enroll without facing a tax penalty is March 31.
Capitol Hill Republicans and other ObamaCare critics have tried numerous times to “defund,” repeal and replace the law, with the GOP-led House holding at least 40 votes on the issue.
“Things will get better,” he said last month. “I make no apologies for us taking this on because somebody, sooner or later, had to do it.”
However, Moffit and others think the president might be forced to except changes from Capitol Hill as Democrats seeking re-election in 2014 will need to be able to show voters that the problems can and have been fixed.
