Issa Statement on Problems Surrounding Launch of Obamacare Exchanges

WASHINGTON- House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., issued the following statement on the problems surrounding today’s launch of Obamacare’s health exchanges:

“Today, across the country, Americans are attempting to purchase health insurance on Obamacare exchanges and are being met with crashing websites, missing price information, confusing forms and in some cases, exchanges that had to delay their start date because they aren’t ready yet. These ‘glitches,’ which the President is trying to brush off, reveal how totally unprepared the government is for this launch even with three and a half years to prepare. This is nothing, however, compared to the potentially irreversible damage the law threatens in the long term: skyrocketing premiums for families, more out-of-pocket costs, less choice and fewer plans and an unprecedented burden placed on small businesses and job creators. The American people deserve better than this trainwreck of a law, whose own champions have resorted to tamping down expectations while refusing to consider alternatives.

“Now that Obamacare’s implementation has begun, more and more of the American people will turn to Congress looking for practical health solutions the bill does not deliver. The President and his allies in Congress owe it to the American people to stop blaming ‘glitches’ for the real problems with the current law, and join us to provide alternatives that work.”

Last month, the Committee released a staff report which found the Navigators and Assisters programs designed to enroll Americans in Obamacare pose huge risks for fraud, identity theft and lack proper safeguard to protect sensitive, personal information. You can read the full report here.