Everyone wants to know. How many people have enrolled in health plans through the federal exchange? Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says the first numbers will be out this week. But neither she, nor other HHS officials will divulge any further details.
And Republicans want those details. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) says he has confidential notes from inside HHS that show that only 6 people had enrolled by the second day of the exchange’s operation. He subpoenaed Secretary Sebelius, demanding more information on healthcare.gov’s problems, testing of the website, and the number of enrollees – all by Nov. 13.
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Rep. Darrell Issa
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) also subpoenaed the Secretary, seeking much of the same information.
Meanwhile, the healthcare.gov website continues to suffer technical problems, which may be keeping people from signing up. Millions of Americans – at least 1 million in California alone – have received cancellation notices from their insurers. These are largely people who have policies in the individual market. HHS has said that those policies are generally expensive and don’t offer as many benefits as are required by the Affordable Care Act. But people are now being forced to look for new coverage at a time when it’s hard to shop on the federal exchange.
The situation led President Obama to apologize in an interview with NBC News. Even with that, some in Congress want to rewrite the ACA to let the individual policies continue. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) introduced such a proposal, as did Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) has put forward the Keep Your Health Plan Act in the House, which may see a vote as early as this week.
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