Obamacare Year Two: Another Round of #BrokenPromises

The administration’s lack of transparency throughout the authoring, passage, and implementation of the president’s health care law has delivered countless broken promises: a broken website, rising premiums, and millions of health plan cancellations. It has also generated a great deal of uncertainty and worry among Americans all across the country. But  that lack of transparency may have been intentional, according to recently uncovered comments from one of the law’s chief architects Jonathan Gruber, who argued in October 2013, “Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage.”  .

The administration has already lowered its own expectations for this year’s enrollment, but as full committee Vice Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) commented, “Before administration officials take out the champagne again to celebrate its now downgraded measure of enrollment success, it needs to once and for all be transparent with the American people about the reality of this law.”

Serious questions remain about the law’s functionality, legal standing, and the status of the exchange’s back-end. The Wall Street Journal recently reported, “some back-end parts of the system have had problems and others haven’t been built, triggering difficulties that could affect tens of thousands of people when new plans kick in next year.”

CBS News adds, “Some unpleasant surprises may be in store for some. That’s because a number of low-priced Obamacare plans will raise their rates in 2015, making those options less affordable. On top of that, penalties for failing to secure a health-insurance plan will rise steeply next year, which could take a big bite out of some families’ pocketbooks.”

National Journal explains, “If people who already have coverage through Obamacare don’t go back through the system and compare their options again, their costs could rise substantially.”

The concerns do not stop with the federal exchange. The New York Times reports, “many of the states that created their own insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act are rushing to complete improvements before Saturday, when a new open enrollment period begins.” Maryland’s new website is not even going to go live today. Instead, “Maryland, in an abundance of caution, is rolling out its new system gradually instead of opening it to everyone Saturday. The exchange will hold a single enrollment fair that day where people can sign up with the help of trained counselors, but they will not be able to do so at home. On Sunday, people can start signing up by phone, and next Wednesday by themselves online.” But, “Dr. Peter Beilenson, the chief executive of Evergreen Health Co-op, one of four insurers offering coverage through the Maryland exchange,” told the Times, “There’s a lot of cynicism and distrust, and a huge lack of knowledge.”

Then, of course, there is the question of security. The Washington Post reports, “In another behind-the-scenes effort, testing continues to try to ensure that the computer system is safe from hackers. The Government Accountability Office recently joined congressional Republicans who oppose the health-care law in warning that the system does not have strong enough privacy protections.”

Looks like the lack of transparency hasn’t been the political advantage the law’s proponents may have hoped. As Ron Fournier writes in National Journal, “Obamacare was built and sold on a foundation of lies. No way around it.”

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