10/28/13 It's crisis timefor Obamacare
www.cnbc.com/id/101147853/print 1/2
It's crisis time for Obamacare
GARY COHN, GOLDMAN SACHS, DEBT DEFAULT, IMMIGRATION REFORM, OBAMACARE, AFFORDABLE
HEALTHCARE ACT, CNBC EXPLAINS, KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, OBAMACARE, HEALTHCARE.COV, OBAMACARE
GLITCHES, HEALTHCARE LAW PROBLEMS, TECH PROBLEMS OBAMACARE, MARKETS, BUSINESS, ECONOMY,
US: NEWS, KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, BARACK OBAMA, BUSINESS NEWS
CNBC.com | Monday, 28 Oct 2013 | 9:04 AM ET
It's quickly turning into crisis time in Washington for President Barack Obama's health care reform law
with the federal website crashing again and a series of hearings set for this week along with a major
address from the president.
(Read more: GOP to grill Sebelius on Obamacare)
The problems with HealthCare.gov are now well documented and continued with an outage on Sunday.
But even if the website gets fixed by the end of November, as the White House promises, potentially
bigger problems lie ahead.
(Read more: Another Obamacare glitch: Data center shuts down)
Middle income consumers are starting to get hit with sticker shock as previously low-priced plans get
canceled and replaced with higher-dollar coverage. Stories of consumers getting plans canceled
directly contradict Obama's promise that people who like their plans could keep them under the new
law. Defenders of the law say that the new plans will be better. But they will also cost more at a time
when wages are stagnant.
And many of these middle class consumers hit by higher rates do not qualify for the federal subsidies
intended help millions of lower income consumers get covered, many for the first time. Anger from
consumers is likely to add to already rising political pressure to delay or alter the law.
(Read more: Being 'just scared' an improvement: Goldman exec)
This is especially true for Democratic senators such as Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Kay Hagan of
North Carolina facing tough re-election battles next year in states Obama lost. A group of these
vulnerable Democratic senators recently signed a letter to embattled Health and Human Services
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking that the March 31st open enrollment deadline for Obamacare get
pushed back.
Republicans in the House, meanwhile, may seek to increase the pressure this week by again voting to
delay the mandate for individuals to buy insurance or face a tax penalty. Calls for an individual
mandate delay, fiercely opposed by the administration, will likely becoming overwhelming if the federal
website is not functioning seamlessly by Dec. 1. Even if the mandate is delayed, the millions of young,
healthy and currently uninsured people the law depends on to make the economics work could
ultimately decide paying the penalty is better than buying insurance. That could spark a "death spiral"
for the law, an outcome that would be devastating for the Obama presidency and Democrats hopes in
2014 and beyond.
The hearings begin on Tuesday but the main event comes Wednesday when Sebelius squares off
against Republicans at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing. Obama speaks on the
health care law the same day at Faneuil Hall in Boston, the place then-Gov. Mitt Romney in 2006
signed the Massachusetts law cited as the model for Obamacare.10/28/13 It's crisis timefor Obamacare
www.cnbc.com/id/101147853/print 2/2
ALSO IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK – The House-Senate budget conference begins Wednesday at
10 a.m. EDT with a meeting that should be little more than a photo-op and a chance for the 29
members to speechify on their priorities. No one in D.C. holds out much hope that the conference will
produce any kind of "grand bargain" on spending, tax reform and entitlements.
There is some hope they could find a smaller bargain that replaces the 2014 sequester cuts with
longer term entitlement changes. But that's also difficult in that Democrats won't agree to Social
Security or Medicare cuts without significant additional tax revenues that Republicans view as
impossible. The chances still seem greater that the committee fails and a much smaller group must cut
another temporary deal to keep the government open and raise the debt ceiling again nearly next
year.
— By Ben White, POLITICO's chief economic correspondent and a CNBC contributor. White also
authors the daily tip sheet POLITICO Morning Money [politico.com/morningmoney] Follow him
onTwitter @morningmoneyben.
© 2013 CNBC.com
URL: http://www.cnbc.com/101147853

Tell me..why are they always looking to cut medicare and SS..when the people PAY/PAID for them?

Never do you see them wanting to take away money from these friggen baby mamas..that shoot them out once a year, so they dont have to work. And..they didnt PAY for a thing. And when that runs out..(when their body no longer produces), they will be looking for disablity..and get it...again, not paying a damned dime into it. This could be another reason people walk away from the republicans. Go after the damned degenerates..not people who paid for what they are getting.