Obamacare website Archives

Howard Dean – Republicans Should Take Some Blame for Blotchy Obamacare Site

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D) contended Thursday that Republicans deserve some of the blame for the Affordable Care Act’s bumpy rollout.

The former Democratic National Committee chair and 2004 presidential aspirant told the panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Republicans “delayed” the law considerably, which he said has contributed to the problematic launch. Dean also said that the 36 states that did not set up their own health exchanges should have been divied up into four or five different regions, to avoid relying on one single source.

“I think it’s a problem, I think the fundamental mistake that was made — well, first of all, in fairness you gotta blame the Republicans for some of this because they delayed everything they possibly could, threw as many monkey wrenches into the process as they could, and there’s some success here,” Dean said.

“But the truth is, what the Obama administration should have done is divide the 36 states that are on the federal exchange up into four or five regions, do it the way the government does health care. And then put each of these regions out to bid, so you don’t have one single contractor who, if they screw up, screws up the whole system, which is what’s happened.”

He added that the Obama administration was forced to set up a single federal marketplace “because the Republican governors refused to accept exchanges.

“The states with exchanges are doing pretty well,” he said. “There’s some glitches. They’re not big. A lot of people are gonna be able to get their insurance in the 14 states that have their own exchanges.”

Co-host Willie Geist asked Dean if he was really blaming the GOP for the glitches that have troubled the federal exchange website, HealthCare.gov.

“Well, not directly, but they did slow the process down considerably and that time does make a difference in the website,” Dean said. “I think the fundamental flaw was not having multiple districts and multiple bidders and multiple contractors working on this because then what you could have done if one contractor screwed up, as this one clearly has, you could actually just use a different exchange in a different region.”

Americans Need Jobs. Meanwhile, Republicans Are Investigating The Obamacare Website

Emboldened by the intense public criticism surrounding the rollout of the online insurance exchange, Republicans in Congress are refocusing their efforts from denying funds for the health care law to investigating it, the New York Times is reporting.

In changing tactics, Republicans hope to tamp down the continuing public criticism of their previously fruitless attack on the Affordable Care Act, one that led to a 16-day government shutdown, by focusing on the problems with the law that they say they have warned the nation about, unheeded, for three years.

“I think the biggest part of Congress’s job is to provide proper oversight of the executive branch of government,” Speaker John A. Boehner said Wednesday at a news conference. “And when it comes to Obamacare, clearly there is an awful lot that needs to be held accountable.”

Beginning Thursday, the House will hold the first of a series of hearings across multiple committees to examine the problems with the troubled Web site, as well as the law’s exemption and waiver components, and the problems that some consumers are having accessing their doctors through the program.

The Energy and Commerce Committee will hold the first hearings, including one with Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of health and human services, next week. The Ways and Means and oversight committees are expected to follow.

“What we’re trying to figure out,” said Representative Fred Upton, Republican of Michigan and chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, “is how did all this taxpayer money get wasted and what is their remedy?”

What I’m trying to figure out is, who is going to investigate the Republican Government Shutdown, and the $25 billion loss to the American taxpayers. That’s what I wanna know.