Fix it, Don't Nix It!

I’m glad the President didn’t try and sugarcoat it this week; the ACA website is broken. After all the effort by millions of Americans to make affordable healthcare a reality, it’s unacceptable that bungled website development has prevented people from taking advantage of the new marketplaces right away. Fixing the website needs to be a number #1 priority of CMS and DHHS going forward. No excuses just get it done.

On that same note though, this doesn’t mean we should either accept the hypocrisy or consider letting Republicans continue to sabotage most important healthcare reform of the last few decades. Since passage of the bill (and it is law, mind you, despite what some Congressman believe…), Republicans have tried every strategy under the sun to try and stop the poor and sick from receiving healthcare. Shutting down the government, voting to repeal it forty plus times, and obstructing exchange creation at the state level & refusing to expand Medicaid for which the Federal government will pay 100% for 3 years & 90% for the later years. Right wing Republicans from the Tea Party refused to appropriate money to build the Healthcare.gov website (Remember the government uses the lowest bidder). Extremist members of the Republican House even have refused to answer constituent questions about the ACA and have posted misinformation and flat out lies about the ACA on their official congressional websites. Georgia insurance commissioner Ralph Hudgens even went as far as saying they are doing everything in their power to see this bill fail.The crocodile tears of Tea Party Republicans trying to prevent people from getting insurance bemoaning the problems with the ACA are expected but hypocritical. This is after all the same group that protested the government shutdown they created. Expect the Congressional heckling to be in full force for the next month – not because they are concerned people cannot sign up for health insurance, but because they are afraid people will.

The ACA isn’t a website, it a healthcare system. The hundreds of reforms within will continue on even with the website functioning poorly. Healthcare costs will fall for most and people who’ve never been able to purchase insurance will be given a new lease among other reforms. What Republicans need to do now is simple. If you’re so sure it’ll fail then chip in and help fix it. Then you can brag about how right you were in future. Of course, the reason they haven’t done this is they know it won’t. Otherwise get out of the way. Bringing up how the website isn’t working and you know because you’ve tried despite saying you’ll never use it isn’t helpful or constructive. You’re just taking up computing power that millions of other Americans have been trying to use this week.

As states like Washington, Kentucky, and New York have shown, the ACA does in fact work. Millions have looked at the new coverage available to them and thousands have already signed up for coverage in 2014. The only thing to do now is to make sure the most effective method to connect with these people works 110% and watch the Republican nosedive into 2014 when it does.

Reprinted from 5th District State Sen. Curt Thompson's (D-Tucker) blog. Thompson represents parts of unincorporated Duluth, Norcross, Tucker, and Lawrenceville. Also, check the senator out on Facebook and Twitter.