Despite repeated assurances from the White House, it appears as if the broken Healthcare.gov website will not be working by the end of November. Last week in Texas President Barack Obama spoke to a crowd and said that the “Web site is already better than it was at the beginning of October, and by the end of this month, we anticipate that it is going to be working the way it is supposed to, all right?” [contextly_sidebar id=”c475da1f057131110bda6e2b18b4b8de”]
The president is calling for a “divide and conquer” strategy for now that focuses on developing alternative enrollment plans that don’t rely on the website but many of these won’t work because the crux of the program is Healthcare.gov
Former President Bill Clinton has been putting pressure on the administration to keep their promises about allowing people to keep their health insurance plans. News out of California that one million people have had their plans cancelled is adding pressure on the White House to act before people lose their insurance.
The Washington Post spoke to Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger who suggested to the president that customers should be able to renew policies and let them stay in effect until November 2014. Praeger admitted that it’s still difficult to figure out how that would work. “Honestly,” she said, “it’s just a big mess right now…. I don’t know what to tell people.”
Meanwhile members of congress are planning to act in order to try to solve some of the problems, likely due to the fear of a public backlash. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) are currently sponsoring a bill that would require insurers to offer plans on the individual market indefinitely.
