The House Energy and Commerce Committee heard dodging testimony from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Although Sebelius apologized for the horrendous rollout of the ObamaCare website, she refused to accept responsibility for millions of Americans who are now being thrown off of their health care plans, deflecting just about every question posed to her from lawmakers.
At every turn, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stuck to administration talking points, but refused to acknowledge that the millions of Americans with private insurance policies are being dropped precisely due to her department’s regulations. In fact, in a now-familiar administration tactic, she blamed the private insurers for canceling the coverage to millions of Americans.
Sebelius states, “Hold me accountable for the debacle. I’m responsible,” in response to Representative Marsha Blackburn, when asked who was responsible for the website problems.
In what can only be explained as a delusional moment, she vowed to win back the confidence of the American people by “fixing the site,” as if technical site issues were the extent of the problem. “So let me say directly to these Americans: You deserve better. I apologize, I’m accountable to you for fixing these problems and I’m committed to earning your confidence back by fixing the site.”
Winning the confidence of the American people, with millions of real Americans coming to the conclusion that they were lied to about keeping their health care plans, cannot be done if the administration refuses to stop the charade.
When the secretary was asked if the administration had a back-up plan for when the “more costly,” as well as those who qualify for Medicaid, are the only ones that sign up, Sebelius replied that they were going to “encourage other people to sign up.” Translated to honest English, what Sebelius means to say is that there is no back-up plan. This is very alarming, because as it stands now, people with “more costly” preexisting conditions and fully subsidized Medicaid are enrolling in run-away high numbers, with an inadequate and disproportionately low amount of paying Americans to cover the tab. In other words, the administration has weeks — not months — to get those people enrolled otherwise they will blow a hole in the federal budget.
If there are not enough paying enrollees in the ObamaCare model it cannot sustain itself, period. This will only add to our already enormous debt that we cannot withstand and a plan to “encourage” paying enrollees is not a plan, at all.
Representative Fred Upton brought up Barrack Obama’s broken promises since 2009, in which he repeatedly stated that ObamaCare would not interfere with existing health insurance policies. Secretary Kathleen Sebelius repeatedly deflected, reiterating the ObamaCare selling points and evading the statement, all together.
In 2010, the Health and Human Services Department adjusted the regulatory provisions pertaining to “grandfathered” health insurance plans.
When a private insurance company changes any part of your current plan, you are no longer under the protection of the “grandfather” clause. If your insurance plan increases even $1.00, then it is considered a substantive change, leaving the private insurance company only one alternative; to give you a cancellation notice. There are six regulatory provisions that can result in a grandfathered plan no longer being compliant with ObamaCare, and they cover just about every occurrence to cause Americans to lose their insurance one way or the other, by design.
Committee Chairmen Fred Upton R-MI, said that his constituents “are now receiving termination notices, and for those who lose the coverage they like, they may also be losing faith in their government.”
As we have heard from Jay Carney in White House press conferences over the last two days, Sebelius regurgitated White House talking points, blaming private insurers for selling inadequate insurance.
“The individual market anywhere in the country has never had consumer protections. People are on their own. They can be locked out, priced out, dumped out,” said Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Aside from that statement being inaccurate on many levels, it does not negate the fact that we were promised that anyone who earns under $250,000 would not lose their plans and doctors.
When Representative Scalise asked Sebelius if it was fair that one of his constituents lost his healthcare plan, which Obama promised he could keep, she avoided and deflected the question. Unbelievably, she suggested that he should go shop on the online exchanges, which of course, still do not work.
Democrats on the committee coalesced to the administration’s position that those who had insurance policies and were canceled would be replaced by better plans that met the higher standards and at lower costs.
Representative Cory Gardner R-Co, who enrolled his family and himself in private insurance to witness first hand the experience his constituents have experienced, was just cancelled. “Why aren’t you losing your insurance, why won’t you go in the exchange,” Gardner asked.
After taking a long pause, she replied saying, “it is illegal for her to sign up.” The Colorado representative quipped, “you have the ability to opt out,” which left her speechless before time ran out.
