Since the Covered California health exchange opened on October 1st, there have been 59,000 enrollments — 30,000 in October and 29,000 signed in November. This is less than 1% of the estimated 6 million Americans that are expected to purchase health coverage on the exchange. Many people worry about the success of the Affordable Care Act, especially since people’s plans were cancelled despite continued promises that Americans could keep their existing health plans.
This issue was addressed when insurers sent nearly 12 million Americans policy cancellation letters because their plans did not meet the Obamacare regulations. The health reform law “grandfathers” plans that were purchased before 2010. However, if the policies have changed since 2010, they must uphold the guidelines set in the Affordable Care Act.
After former President Clinton critiqued the rollout of the exchange, President Obama apologized for the many issues that have taken place not only with the healthcare.gov website errors but also with the discontinuation of the health plans. Clinton was defending the health care law as a whole, but revealed how broken promises regarding health coverage are damaging to individuals and society. He told a story of a man whose plan was cancelled because it didn’t meet the new requirements. the young man’s coverage was replaced with premiums twice as high as his existing plan, and he wouldn’t see any savings unless he was sick. The white house is struggling to repair issues similar to this while strategizing ways to improve attitudes towards the new law.