Obama Sees 'Bumps' for Health Law



By LOUISE RADNOFSKY

Amid signs of early snags in the federal health law, President Barack Obama on Tuesday acknowledged it could face a rocky rollout this fall but said officials are racing to get the new insurance system ready in time.

The main goal of the 2010 law is to bring health-insurance coverage to Americans who lack it, yet two of the measure's key ways of doing this have hit obstacles.

More than half of the states are on track to sit out the law's Medicaid-expansion goal initially—which means millions of low-income Americans won't have access to health insurance through Medicaid as the law anticipated.

Meantime, 33 states have opted against running their own insurance exchanges, the websites where the law envisions consumers shopping for health policies and finding out whether they qualify for tax credits to help pay for them starting Oct. 1. While these residents will be able to use a federal exchange to buy policies, the federal government has had limited funding to set up the exchanges on behalf of the states and to provide consumer assistance for people trying to pick among insurance policies.

Moreover, state and federal officials have had limited opportunities to fully test the complex computer technology behind the exchanges before consumers start shopping.

"Even if we do everything perfectly, there will still be glitches and bumps," Mr. Obama told reporters Tuesday. He added that most Americans wouldn't feel disruptions from the law, and that the country will benefit from covering the uninsured over time.

The stakes are high for the administration since the outcome of Mr. Obama's signature domestic-policy legislation could shape the course of his second term. Republicans are preparing to seize on any early flaws to further their campaign against the law, and make gains in 2014 elections.

"Obamacare was a political nightmare for Democrats in the 2010 election. In 2014, it's shaping up to be a political tsunami," wrote Brad Dayspring, a communications strategist for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, in an email to supporters.

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