First we have the fact that Oregon, after spending something like $305 million taxpayer dollars on its state health care exchange – without enrolling so much as one person online – is dumping it and moving to the national ObamaCare site.
But will that be better? Read the following excerpt from Kyle Cheney\’s article at politico.com and decide for yourself (but please pay particular attention to the part I\’ve put in bold print):
TheObamacare website may work for people buying insurance, but beneaththe surface, HealthCare.gov is still missing massive, critical pieces- and the deadline for finishing them keeps slipping.
Asa result, the system\’s “back end” is a tangle of technicalworkarounds moving billions of taxpayer dollars and consumer-paidpremiums between the government and insurers. The parts underconstruction are essential for key functions such as accuratelypaying insurers. The longer they lag, experts say, the likelierthey\’ll trigger accounting problems that could leave the public onthe hook for higher premium subsidies or health care costs.
It\’s an overlookedchapter in the health care law\’s story that has largely escapedscrutiny because consumers aren\’t directly affected. Yet itbolsters the Republican narrative that the government has mishandledthe implementation of Obamacare.
“Itseems like the insurers\’ experience with Obamacare is a lot likethat of far too many Americans: broken promises, frequent delays andconstantly shifting rules of the road,” said Don Stewart, aspokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “Itseems like there\’s a lot more to the story than what theadministration says in their pep rallies.”
Uh, Kyle….it is not “an overlooked chapter” because consumers aren\’t directly affected – the implication being that they know about it but don\’t care. It is “an overlooked chapter” because most mainstream media venues have not reported it, therefore most consumers don\’t know these problems exist at all.
The sad reality is that, based on the past five years, we have three more years to go before these so-called “journalists” will consider reporting this kind of news – and only then if a Republican should happen to win the presidency.
