In the initial weeks of full implementation, the Affordable Care Act was marred by computer glitches that left hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of consumers in the lurch. Healthcare.gov, the Web portal established for Americans to purchase health insurance through federal exchanges, is a travesty.
Residents of individual states that created their own insurance exchanges are faring better under the ACA. But the dysfunctional Web portal set up for the federal exchange has let down the citizens of Wisconsin and other states where Republican leaders refused to establish state exchanges.
Americans who are reliant on the exchanges earn 400 percent or less of the federal poverty level. Most of them live in impoverished states. The ACA provides them with subsidies to help pay their insurance premiums, but they must register in order to receive this benefit.
Unfortunately, the majority of people who’ve attempted to register on healthcare.gov have failed. They’ve waited for hours to get on the website, only to find that the system is incapable of finalizing their applications. According to local industry insiders, only about 50 people in southeastern Wisconsin had been able to apply successfully in the first two weeks.
How did this happen? The law was passed three years ago, giving the Obama administration ample time to execute an effective website. By dropping the ball on the president’s signature legislation, his own administration has left millions of people in a panic and thrown a meaty bone to conservatives who argue that government is incapable of managing such complex programs.
We grudgingly supported the ACA, despite our belief that a single-payer system would have been fairer and more cost-effective. But we strongly endorsed the new law’s fundamental features, including: ending the denial of coverage based on pre-existing conditions; lowering health-care costs by expanding the risk pool and halting the practice of uninsured people using emergency rooms as primary care providers; eliminating lifetime limits on coverage; prohibiting insurers from dropping coverage or raising premiums due to illness; capping annual out-of-pocket medical and drug expenses at $6,400 for individuals and $12,800 for families; and ensuring that children can remain on their parents’ coverage until age 26.
People who can afford their own plans or receive coverage through their employers will enjoy these essential improvements to the system. But low-income citizens who are unable to register for federal subsidies will find the insurance market is out of their reach.
Although the enrollment phase of the program lasts though March, people who don’t register by Dec. 15 could face devastating gaps in their coverage if their current policies expire before their new ones are processed. The Department of Health and Human Services must now work 24/7 to guarantee the website is functioning effectively before that can happen.
And the White House owes the nation more than its initial excuse that the system failed because it was overcome with so many people signing up at once when it went live on Oct. 1. That’s hogwash. Unofficial reports are that testing did not even begin on healthcare.gov until the waning days of September.
The administration was caught unprepared to implement the most contentious law the nation has seen in decades — a law that cost Democrats control of the House and nearly cost them the presidency. That makes this failure of the White House far more than shoddy — it’s downright terrifying.
