The Affordable Care Act may not live up to the hype that President Barack Obama promised back in 2008 when he proposed the legislation.
With the current unforeseen issues that have plagued the Affordable Care Act, it’s easy to see that Obama must do something quickly to resolve this crisis.
Could these problems potentially break the Affordable Care Act?
The first problem that really hit the Affordable Care Act when it launched was the infamous web-site conundrum.
Last month, no one could sign onto the healthcare website to register for the Affordable Care Act. Numerous bugs and technological failures prevented people from early enrollment.
It’s one thing if the website didn’t work after only weeks of preparation, but it’s another when the Obama administration had two years to prepare for the website’s launch.
Other sites like Amazon have millions of visitors every day. Their sites don’t crash becaues of high user traffic.
Another more recent issue that has both Republicans and Obama supporters up in arms is the fact that some people have actually have had their healthcare plans canceled due to the healthcare mandate.
The cancellations directly violate the promise that Obama made back when the Affordable Care Act was still just a campaign promise.
“If you like your health insurance plan, you can keep it,” Obama said.
Obama wasn’t telling the truth. More than one million people in California have had their insurance plans canceled because of the Affordable Care Act’s new mandates, according to CBS Sacramento.
With people losing their plans and not gaining access to the healthcare website, it’s unclear what people are supposed to do.
Even if these issues are resolved, it’s uncertain if anyone will still want to sign up as the recent records show that an abysmal number of people have even registered at all.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently announced that only about 106,185 Americans have chosen an insurance plan with the Affordable Care Act.
By adding all the new customers to the insurance market, the Obama administration hopes new income will be generated to cover the costs of healthcare.
But if so few are registered and actually paying, how can this program be supported?
Even when the problems are eventually fixed, it’s impossible to predict whether people will trust the government to manage their healthcare plans.
If no one has confidence that the government can and people don’t register, it’s unclear if the program can succeed without the funds needed to keep it afloat.
It may be not the Republicans who bring down the Affordable Care Act, but Obama’s own poor execution of a failed program.
Nick Chavez is a sophomore political science major and an assistant opinions editor at the Daily 49er.
