The three hours of questioning Marilyn Tavenner faced before the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday could be called by some, “a dog and pony show”—just more of the same intense finger-pointing and arguing Americans have grown to expect from federal lawmakers.
The hearing on the status of the Affordable Care Act implementation was intended to aid the committee in overseeing ACA, or Obamacare, and brought forth majority Republican concerns over dropped healthcare coverage, administrative waste and more, as they tried to wrestle the answers they were seeking about the less than exemplary launch of the federal health insurance marketplace, Healthcare.gov.
Nearly all of the committee members' questioning of Tavenner focused on Obamacare’s defense or opposition; with some members, on both sides of the aisle, launching into diatribes--not wanting to use their precious floor time for questions.
Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said the committee cannot begin to fix the problems with Obamacare until the Administration reveals the extent of the problems. “Instead of plowing forward with this unworkable law, the Administration should, at a minimum, seriously consider delaying the law for families and individuals, just as it has done for big business,” he said.
As for the questioning that did take place, much of it focused on the actual details behind the mishandling of the rollout of the Healthcare.gov website, launched Oct. 1.
Tavenner said, as the head of CMS, she is the one ultimately responsible for the less-than-perfect rollout. This, she mainly attributed to a major underestimation in the number of people who would come to the site to apply for coverage. The site was tested end-to-end before the launch, based on estimates derived from the Medicare Part D site when it launched. The number of people who came to Healthcare.gov was many times over that number – something CMS and its contractors did not expect to happen, she said.
The glitches, Tavenner explained, are located within the actual three-page application process, which determines whether an applicant is a candidate for the federal health insurance marketplace and federal assistance. Anyone coming to the website merely for information or to compare prices could still access that information on the main pages without any difficulty, Tavenner said.
GOP members of the committee wanted to know how many of the more than 700,000 applicants reported by the Administration to have visited the site have now actually enrolled in healthcare. Tavenner said those statistics would not be available until mid-November. She also promised a Nov. 30 deadline for fixing the glitches in the system, with some fixes taking place on a daily basis.
Tavenner said the hub of Healthcare.gov has been working perfectly since the launch and has helped states with their application processes in a timely fashion. The problems have come for states that did not opt to participate in the federal health insurance exchange program, and thus must use the federal marketplace to enroll their beneficiaries.
“It’s working quite effectively in states that are running those sites,” Tavenner said of the states that created their own marketplaces. “The irony is, the GOP has put hurdles in the way of states.”
To remedy what ails Healthcare.gov, the federal government has hired a new contractor to oversee the fixes and has bumped up the number of technicians working on the fixes and its capacity. The site is getting faster every day, she said. Until the site gets fully up to speed, candidates still have the option to use phone lines, paper applications and in-person assistance to apply. She said she fully expects there to be enough time from Nov. 30 to the March 31 deadline for uninsured Americans to access the marketplace and enroll.
A number of committee members wanted to know why some of their constituents have complained of having their policies dropped under Obamacare. Tavenner said these people – mainly those who have purchased individual insurance plans – had insurance that was grandfathered in to Obamacare. The health insurers have now dropped the plans because they don't meet ACA requirements. She did not have any real answers for how people are to find coverage for the gap between now and Jan. 1. She referred those people to HealthCare.gov for answers on where to buy more insurance.
“The flaw is the law, itself. Not the website, “ said Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), summing up what most Republicans had implied all day.
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) called for a little patience. “This is one of the biggest changes we have ever made, and we are only four weeks into it.”
Medicare and Part D were not without their glitches at the start, he said.
Related:
Republican Senator introduces oversight bill for Obamacare exchange
Zients vows Healthcare.gov will work smoothly by end of November
