President Obama Saturday promoted healthcare.gov improvements at the start of the second year of open enrollment for his signature health insurance law, the Affordable Care Act.
Obama marked the first day of a three-month open enrollment period from Australia, where he is ending a week-long tour of Pacific Rim nations.
In his weekly address, Obama touted the 7 million people now enrolled in “affordable coverage” thanks to the law, which expands Medicaid for poor adults and provides subsidies for low-income individuals and families.
“On average, they’re paying just $82 a month for coverage,” Obama said in his address. “For a lot of people, that’s less than a cell phone bill or a cable bill.”
The healthcare exchange was operating Saturday morning. A suburban Washington D.C. family of four earning a household annual income of $140,000 could sign up for a bronze plan for $576 per month, with an annual deductible if $12,000.
The Obama administration is aiming for an open enrollment period that goes much smoother than the disastrous first launch last year, when the website crashed repeatedly, requiring hundreds of millions of dollars in fixes.
Obama didn’t mention the initial stumble in his Saturday address, instead saying, “we’ve spent the last year improving and upgrading healthcare.gov, to make it faster and easier to use.”
Health and Human Service Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell on Saturday planned a visit to a health center in a Washington D.C. suburb to promote the opening day of enrollment.
Burwell replaced Kathleen Sebelius, who was largely blamed for the initial failure of the first open enrollment period. Burwell will also promote open enrollment next week with a visit to the University of South Florida Marshall Center Navigation Lab and then hold an Obamacare “stakeholder” panel discussion at Florida International University College of Law.
Republicans, largely critical of the healthcare law, noted open enrollment much differently than Obama and Democratic proponents. The Republican National Committee noted the Obama administration has lowered enrollment expectations by 30 percent and that consumers could face higher premiums and deductibles.
Republicans aim to repeal all or parts of the law in 2015 when they hold the majority in both the House and Senate. The GOP push to repeal the law has been upgraded in the past week thanks to videos of an Obamacare architect, Jonathan Gruber, crediting deception and voter stupidity as key factors in facilitating the 2010 passage of the law.
“Before administration officials take out the champagne again to celebrate its now downgraded measure of enrollment success, it needs to once and for all be transparent with the American people about the reality of this law,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., a top member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
