Enrollment for the second year of the Affordable Care Act is now underway as it faces new challenges from Republican opponents.
On Saturday, consumers started going to the federal website Healthcare.gov to purchase plans during an open-enrollment that lasts until Feb. 15.
The website computer glitches many consumers experienced in last year’s rocky rollout are expected to be worked out so the process can go smoother this year.
Also new this year is an increase in fines for those lacking coverage rising from $95 to $325. The enrollment period is also shorter this year.
An expected adverse impact on the ACA is Republicans, who oppose the law, are now in the majority in both the House and the U.S. Senate.
House Speaker John Boehner and soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have pledged to keep trying to repeal the act, if not all at once then through incremental steps.
Fortunately the Republicans lack a veto-proof majority but it probably won’t stop them from trying to degrade or dismantle the health care act.
A more serious threat is posed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which will consider a lawsuit that argues language in the act suggests the federal government shouldn’t be able to offer health-insurance subsidies to individuals and 34 states that didn’t create their own insurance exchanges.
President Barack Obama himself has acknowledged he is willing to consider changes to his signature law to improve it but is unwilling to allow any changes that would undermine it.
This is a view you would expect to be shared by Democratic lawmakers as well. However, during the midterm election, many Democratic candidates sought to distance themselves from Obama and the ACA. This was a critical mistake.
Why fight earlier for a law you later fail to defend?
Even with its problems, 7.1 million people have signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. The Obama administration estimates at least another 2 million will enroll for 2015.
As the ACA enters its second year of enrollment, voters must speak out against Republican opponents whose rhetoric and records have demonstrated they are more interested in attacking the president and the ACA than expanding health care to millions of Americans.
(Reprinted from the Philadelphia Tribune)
