Hello, this is your congressman, Michael Burgess. For much of this year the administration claimed that implementation of the Affordable Care Act was on track for the October 1st deadline. Then we learned in October that this was not the case. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has even admitted the rollout was a "debacle".
On Wednesday, Secretary Sebelius testified before the Energy and Commerce Committee about the ongoing troubles of the Affordable Care Act. To no surprise, she continued to give unclear answers to important questions. I stressed to her my concern for people who think they have completed the process on healthcare.gov, but in reality they remain uninsured. I've repeatedly tried to sign up for coverage on the Affordable Care Act's website. Every time I try to make my payment on the website, I am unable to pay. The website will not let me. In my opinion, this is not a viable business plan. So here's the question, will the Department of Health and Human Services guarantee payments to providers if this confusion persists past January 1, 2014?
At the hearing, Secretary Sebelius did not present any solutions to this problem or any of the other often mentioned problems with the Affordable Care Act. An architect of the Affordable Care Act said this past week, "if you like your doctor," you're just going to have to pay more in order to keep him or her. Well, this includes folks with pre-existing conditions. Continuity of care is important. Wasn't one of the main promises of the law that we would be able to keep our doctors and help those with pre-existing conditions at an affordable price?
I think we all know the cost of health care will continue to rise. The administration keeps releasing enrollment reports that are misleading. They detail only the number of people who've "selected" a plan, and do not give us the number of people who've actually signed up for and paid for an account and have coverage. What if not enough people sign up? Who covers that cost for your family?
More than 5 million people have already lost their health plans under the Affordable Care Act. That number is expected to increase significantly next year. This indicates that millions more Americans will lose coverage than gain it in the first months of after the health law goes into effect. Overall, that's unsustainable.
Thank you for taking the time to listen. For more information about legislation before the United States Congress, please visit my website, burgess.