Obamacare: Fear, Doubt And Confidence Crisis, Dem Senator Warns
By STEPHANIE CONDON / CBS NEWS/ November 5, 2013, 11:25 AM
A top administration official assured a Senate committee Tuesday that the administration has a plan to restore confidence in the Affordable Care Act and recruit young people to enroll in the new insurance marketplace once HealthCare.gov, the glitchy Obamacare marketplace website, is running smoothly.
"Our goal is to stabilize this website this month," Marilyn Tavenner, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), told the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Once that's complete, the administration plans to roll out a "targeted plan" to encourage young people and other contingents of largely uninsured Americans. Asked if the Obama administration can restore confidence in the law, Tavenner said unequivocally, "Yes."
Tavenner was responding to concerns from Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who told her the rollout of the Obamacare marketplace "has been more than bumpy."
The botched website launch, combined with the fact that millions of Americans on the individual market are being dropped from their plans, has created "fear, doubt and a crisis of confidence," Mikulski said, noting that around 73,000 people in her state of Maryland alone have reportedly had their plans cancelled.
"What I worry about is there's such a crisis of confidence, that people won't enroll... particularly our young people," Mikulski said.
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