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November 7, 2013

Obama Admin Rejects Delay of Health Law; Top Official Resigns 
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The White House continues to reject calls for delaying parts of the new
healthcare law due to the troubled rollout. Appearing before the Senate
Finance Committee, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
said delay is off the table.

Kathleen Sebelius: "People's lives depend of this. Too many hard working
people have been waiting for too long for the ability to obtain
affordable health insurance. We want to save families from going
bankrupt if we want to save the lives of more of our friends and
neighbors by allowing them to detect medical issues early. If we want to
keep prices down, delay is not an option."

Sebelius said figures set for release next week will show enrollment to
be low, but the administration remains confident it can hit its target
of signing up seven million Americans for insurance plans by March.
Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, a co-author of the healthcare law,
criticized the rollout's troubles.

Sen. Max Baucus: "When we asked for updates on the marketplaces, the
responses we got were totally unsatisfactory. We heard multiple times
that everything was on track. We now know that was not the case. That's
in the past. Now it's time to move forward and figure out how to fix
it."

Wednesday's hearing came as a top official at the federal agency
responsible for the federal healthcare website resigned. Tony Trenkle
served as Chief Information Officer at the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services. Trenkle is taking a job in the private sector. It is
unclear if his departure is linked to the website's troubles.

 

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