Will Obamacare 'exchanges' be ready in 60 days, when enrollment begins?
A top Obama administration official is pushing back against critics of the president鈥檚 signature health-care reform law, saying that implementation is 鈥渙n track鈥� and that the law will benefit average families.
Marilyn Tavenner, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, spoke Thursday, just 60 days before state-level health-care 鈥渆xchanges鈥� are scheduled to open for individuals to enroll under the Affordable Care Act.
The ACA calls for individuals who lack health insurance to sign up through an exchange 鈥� with the enrollment process for 2014 starting Oct. 1 鈥� or to pay a tax penalty if they don鈥檛 buy coverage.聽President Obama鈥檚 vision is that the law, known as Obamacare, will sharply reduce the share of Americans who lack insurance, due to this mandate on individuals coupled with subsidies to help lower-income families pay for coverage.
Critics, however, say the law is creating a morass of complexity and unintended consequences, including the risk that small employers will drop coverage for their workers 鈥� undermining Mr. Obama鈥檚 pledge that 鈥渋f you like the plan you have, you can keep it.鈥�
Ms. Tavenner on Thursday sparred with House Republicans over their numerous concerns related to the law.
She said the administration is ready to grapple with the administrative challenge of checking Americans鈥� income 鈥� to see if people qualify for subsidized insurance.聽Noting that there is public 鈥渃onfusion鈥� on this issue, she said that IRS data would help officials quickly verify incomes for most people, and that the government is turning to the firm Equifax for confirming data.
Only in a minority of cases, where IRS and Equifax numbers don鈥檛 agree, would the government need to further review what individuals self-report as they enroll, Tavenner said.
Under the law, each state may design its own insurance exchange, in which private insurance companies compete to offer plans that meet coverage standards set forth in the Obamacare law. Alternatively, a state can let the federal government set up its exchange 鈥� a commitment the administration is scrambling to fulfill in a number of states.
Tavenner said the exchanges will help American families by offering a new degree of transparency for consumers, and by spurring competition among insurers for their business.
鈥淚f I were eligible to enroll in an exchange plan, I would be happy to enroll in an exchange plan,鈥� she said in response to one Republican question.
Partisan views differ on the question of cost. Tavenner cited evidence of cost-containment for individual insurance plans that are emerging under the ACA, while Republicans offered statistics about surging premiums.
In some states, Tavenner said, the cost of insurance on the exchanges is still speculation at this point.
What many health-care experts agree on is that Obamacare, by itself, doesn鈥檛 resolve the longstanding question of how to tame the long-term rise of health-care costs.
Republicans also said at the hearing that some big complaints about the law are now coming from erstwhile supporters of Obama and of the ACA.
In a recent letter to congressional Democrats, three labor union leaders including James Hoffa of the Teamsters wrote that the promise of being able to keep current employer-based health benefits is 鈥渦nder threat.鈥�
The letter, republished in a on The Wall Street Journal website, called for Congress to make 鈥渃ommon-sense corrections鈥� in the law. For example, the labor leaders said the law creates 鈥渁n incentive for employers to keep employees鈥� work hours below 30 hours a week,鈥� to avoid a health-insurance mandate 鈥� a mandate the Obama administration recently put on hold for a year.
The letter also complained that delaying the mandate represents a 鈥渉uge accommodation for the employer community,鈥� allowing businesses to postpone penalties for not offering health coverage.
