WASHINGTON, Oct 20: Roughly half a million Americans have applied for health insurance through new federal- and state-run exchanges under President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, an administration official said on Saturday.
That figure comes as problems with the federal marketplace’s entry portal serving 36 states, the website Healthcare.Gov, have thwarted consumers from shopping for federally subsidized health coverage and drawn derision from Republicans, who oppose the law, popularly known as Obamacare.
The acknowledgement of the number of applicants, late on a weekend evening, appeared to be part of a ramped-up damage control effort by the White House.
Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is expected to provide private health coverage to an estimated 7 million uninsured Americans through the new online marketplaces that opened for enrollment in all 50 states on Oct. 1.
But the Healthcare.Gov website was hobbled by technical issues – including error messages, garbled text and delays loading pages – that administration officials blame partly on an unexpectedly high volume of 14.6 million visitors in its first several days of activity.
Obama is frustrated by the poor start and told advisers during a recent Oval Office meeting that the administration had to take responsibility for not having the site ready on time, an official said yesterday.
“The website is unacceptable, and we are improving it, but the product is good and across the country people are getting access to affordable care starting January 1,” one administration official said.
“We are going to work intensely for the next six months to make sure we meet the demand.”
(AGENCIES)
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