Posted on 10/25/2013 5:12:15 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Washington As Americans continue to experience technical difficulties with federal and state health insurance enrollment, a coalition of U.S. Senators is calling on Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to extend the open enrollment period to give Americans more time to obtain health insurance coverage.
As long as these substantial technology glitches persist, we are losing valuable time to educate and enroll people in insurance plans, read the letter signed by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) along with Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.). Our constituents are frustrated, and we fear that the longer the website is not functional, opportunities for people to log on, learn about their insurance choices, and enroll will be lost.
The full text of the Senators letter is below:
(Excerpt) Read more at feinstein.senate.gov ...
Dear Mr. Olde:
Thank you for contacting me to express your views regarding health reform. I appreciate hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to respond.
I support the Affordable Care Act (ACA), health reform legislation signed into law by President Obama in 2010. The ACA creates important new benefits for health insurance consumers, expands access to care, and protects Medicare while reducing the federal deficit.
The ACA makes it easier for people to shop for health insurance plans and protects consumers from some of the most egregious abuses by health insurance companies. For example, the law prohibits insurers from denying coverage, charging higher premiums, or refusing reimbursement for the millions of people who have pre-existing health conditions like cancer, diabetes, or asthma. The law also stops insurance companies from setting annual or lifetime limits on coverage, allows young adults to stay on their parents' health insurance until age 26, and requires new insurance plans to cover preventive health care such as mammograms and diabetes screenings without a co-pay.
Under the ACA, individuals who get insurance through an employer or Medicare can continue to receive this coverage. In addition, the law creates new health insurance marketplaces through which individuals who do not have access to affordable insurance or who want to explore new insurance options can shop for coverage. California's health insurance marketplace is known as Covered California, and is online now at CoveredCA.com. On this website, individuals can compare plans, find out if they qualify for subsidies to reduce the cost of coverage, and enroll in a plan of their choice. For your information, I have attached a fact sheet that provides more information about Covered California and the Affordable Care Act.
Although I support the many new consumer protections and preventive health benefits created as part of the Affordable Care Act, I recognize that the law remains controversial. Please know that I have made note of your views and will keep them in mind as I continue to monitor the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Should have any further comments or questions, please feel free to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.
Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein United States Senator
No way.
ITS THE LAW!!!!!!
Let me guess... they want to delay everything until... after the next election cycle.
Silly Cripplecreek, laws are arbitrary to Democrats!
Well, Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein ...
(clearing throat) It’s the law of the land.
So, up Chuck and Di!
These people have no clue about competence and instead they put their partisan politics first. Politicians are clueless about reality because they are never held accountable for their failures.
There is no functional competent institution in its right mind that would ever roll out a new nationwide program, even for a new yo yo design, without doing a pilot program that broke down the implementation into a segments of a manageable size.
This is an absolute example of how politics have destroyed the concept of competency. A flash cut for such a large program illustrates pathetic management that goes to the top.
Hey privileged rich old white woman. STFU
More time not to enroll.
Fug ‘em! Let ‘em flap in the wind! It wasn’t good a month ago, it isn’t good now!
Every time somebody says “it’s the law”, retort, so is the 2nd Amendment!
Feinstein is a terrorist with a bomb strapped to her sunken chest holding the country hostage.
I like to point to Michigan’s affirmative action ban that now awaits a supreme court decision. It was proposed by the people, voted on by the people, passed by the people and signed into law by Jenny Granholm who had no choice.
Now 7 years later we’re awaiting a supreme court ruling.
My understanding is that delaying select parts of ObamaCare actually make the situation worse.
Insurance companies are still expected to comply with the “shall provide” portions of the law. Yet delaying enrollment and the individual mandate essentially robs them of the $$$ they need to do that.
So, with their financials trending downwards toward - if not into - the red, they’ll have to jack up their premiums and deductibles. In what, should the individual mandate not be implemented soon enough, will be a pretty ugly death spiral.
The truth is that ObamaCare doesn’t really have to be delayed. It needs to be denied oxygen (aka $$$). If enough $$$ is denied and denied at the right time(s) it doesn’t just collapse. It implodes in a massively spectacular fashion that very well could be an object lesson in the “don’t do that” nature of governmental overreach for civics students hundreds of years from now.
“Et tu, Dianne?”
The Dims have to change the law of the land, before you can know what’s in the law of the land. Sheesh.
It’s “da law of da land”! No delays! No extensions! Everyone who is not enrolled by next Friday should be arrested and thrown into a concentration camp. We’re an official police state now! No more of this goofing around.
Cloward Piven anyone?
Ah, to veto or not to veto.....
Unless you happen to be Obama, a Dem, or a Dept of Horror Services appointee...
I wonder why the Dems are asking her to make the decision - does she really have that extra-constitutional power too?
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