A Republican Congressman who has sought to repeal the Affordable Care Act praised the Obama administration for keeping open a call center dedicated to enrolling people into the law after the initial enrollment period.
In a statement posted on his campaign website last week, Rep. Vance McAllister (R) revealed that he, along with Louisiana Senators Mary Landrieu (D) and David Vitter (R), lobbied General Dynamics, the company who operates the call center, to preserve the more than 600 jobs in the state.
“This is excellent news for the City of Bogalusa and the hundreds of high quality workers employed by General Dynamics whose jobs are now saved,” McAllister said. “I’m pleased to see that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services saw how important this is to my district and the state of Louisiana. As long as I am in office I will continue to fight for the health of our economy and the preservation of jobs.”
A spokesperson for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services clarified that “Call centers operated by CMS contractors have supported our effort to enroll millions of Americans in quality, affordable health coverage.” HHS says it will have 3,800 full-time call center employees “to handle marketplace activities outside of open enrollment.”