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Obamacare: What Both Sides Are Saying

Jillian Morabito |
November 18, 2013 | 12:42 p.m. PST

Executive Producer

The website has not been working properly since its launch in October (via Twitter/@NBCLA)
The website has not been working properly since its launch in October (via Twitter/@NBCLA)
President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act has drawn a wave of supporters, but, more often than not, intense criticism as well. However, the one benefit the President always maintained was the Democratic party’s support. 

Currently, even that is faltering.

This weekend, 39 House Democrats voted for a Republican bill that would alter the federal healthcare law. 

This is not the first time such an action has occurred. During the summer, a select group of Democrats partnered with Republicans to delay mandated coverage for individuals and businesses. 

The vote this weekend was the largest Democratic defection on legislation in 2013. 

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, however, affirmed that Democrats full-heartedly support Obamacare: “I don't think you can tell what will happen next year. But I will tell you this: Democrats stand tall in support of the Affordable Care Act.”

Republicans are also attacking another aspect of Obamacare-- the fact that there aren’t background checks for the people that operate the website. Thus, there is a possibility of a criminal obtaining personal information. 

"So a convicted felon could be a navigator and could acquire sensitive personal information from an individual, unbeknownst to them,” said Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn.

“That is possible,” responded Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius.

"As time goes on, we will inevitably see more cases of people fraudulently posing as navigators, collecting personal information and then exploiting innocent victims. This is a recipe for people falling prey to fraud, identity theft or gross incompetence by those operating as Obamacare navigators," said Sen. Marco Rubio. 

This is just the latest aspect of the law that Republicans will add as a fuel to their fire.

However, Democrats are insisting that they expected problems with Obamacare implementation from the start. Though enrollment is lower than expected, over 100,000 Americans have purchased this healthcare despite website malfunctions. Thus, with a fully-functioning website, the Obama Administration expects enrollment to multiply.

Additionally, new programs require a prolonged response by citizens to figure out the coverage. Because the coverage doesn’t begin until January, there is also assumption that people will being signing up for healthcare when it begins so as to wait to pay at the last possible moment (mostly by the younger audience). 

Do you think President Obama and the Affordable Care Act can recover? 

Reach Executive Producer Jillian Morabito here. 



 

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