“The problem with Obamacare isn’t just a glitch. It’s fundamental and it’s taking away our freedom. At the heart of the program is the idea that the government should decide your health coverage – what you require and how much you should pay. Never mind what you want, what you need, and what you can afford.”
This week’s GOP Weekly Address was delivered by Senator Pat Toomey, who rightly focused on Obamacare.
Senator Toomy outlines the problems he and his family have personally faced signing up for Obamacare:
Now, I don’t think anyone should be forced onto ObamaCare. But as a Senator, ObamaCare forced me and my family onto an exchange for health coverage.
Just last week, my wife, Kris, tried to sign up on the health exchange website that’s available to us.
Now, my wife is a very sharp woman, she’s a former computer software consultant. She’s also an amazing person and a great mom, but that’s another story.
When Kris went onto the website, she typed in all our personal information and that of all our three children.
And then, when she tried to browse the various plans, the website denied her. She tried again, and it still didn’t work. When she called someone and asked for help, she was told the system just wasn’t working right now and it was best to try again later.
Well, I’ll tell you, I really wish this were a case of a Member of Congress just out of touch. Unfortunately, it’s not.
The fiasco my wife just faced with the health care website is being experienced by Americans across the country when they try to sign up for health insurance.
If this were just a matter of a slow-moving computer glitch, well then maybe that would be excusable. But it’s much more than that.
It’s been reported that that perhaps as many as one-third of those who have been able to complete the online enrollment process might not actually have insurance coverage at all. Apparently, the enrollment information isn’t always being transmitted to the insurers in a large number of cases.
Can you imagine going to your doctor or to a hospital in January only to find out you’re not actually insured?
Transcript via Andrew Malcolm.
Over at MoeLane.com, Moe boils down the problem. “If you want to know how badly the Democrats messed up Obamacare, here you go: they can’t even manage to provide quality service to top government officials and their families.” Indeed. Moe goes on to add that “Senator Toomey’s looming lack of health care coverage is not the real problem,” and highlights this:
I recently heard from a woman from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. She has multiple sclerosis – has for years – and ObamaCare kicked her off an insurance plan that worked for her for many years.
Yes, she can get a plan in the new health care exchange. In fact, it turns out there are two options available to her. One of the options would let her keep her doctor. The other would pay for her medication. And neither plan will do both.
These are the kinds of painful and unfair choices millions of people now face.
Republicans must continue to hammer the President and his administration over Obamacare, both the website and the law itself. Not for crass political gain, but because of the truth of our situation. America, already hurting, is being slow-motion devastated by this nightmare legislation. The news has aired countless stories of people losing their insurance, sick people being denied the level of care they want or need, and families facing enormous outlays of cash that they can’t afford. It is for their sakes that the GOP, and conservatives and people of good sense everywhere must continue to speak up, and loudly, about Obamacare.