The first sign the administration might not make good on its promise came last week from Henry Chao, the CMS' deputy director of information services, during a House hearing. He said he believed making the website work by Nov. 30 is an “attainable goal,” but added, “I think there are still a lot of moving parts and it wouldn't be prudent to give a 100% guarantee.”
On Thursday, HHS announced that it's pushing back the start of open enrollment for 2015 plans by one month—to Nov. 15—so that insurers have more time to evaluate their 2014 experience and subscriber pools before setting 2015 rates. HHS also gave consumers one extra week—until Dec. 23—to sign up for exchange coverage effective Jan. 1, 2014.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) called the delay in open enrollment for 2015 a nakedly political maneuver. “That means if premiums go through the roof in the first year of Obamacare, no one will know about it until after the election,” he said in a written statement.
Meanwhile, the website woes and the uproar over the cancellation of policies that don't meet Obamacare requirements further damaged public approval of the law. In a new poll, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that 49% of those surveyed have an unfavorable view of the law, while 33% have a favorable view.
Joseph Antos, a healthcare expert at the right-of-center American Enterprise Institute, said the administration will be in a tough position if things aren't working by month's end. “What are they going to say after Nov. 30?” he said. “What is Plan B?”
