McMorris Rodgers: Obamacare ‘making life harder’ in E. Washington
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers hears lots of angst about Obamacare in Eastern Washington.
At least, that's what she says in a USA Today guest column defending the House Republicans in their move to link continued funding of the federal government to some changes in the Affordable Care Act.
"No matter where I go when I'm home in Eastern Washington — the grocery store, the local coffee shop, the county fair — the concern is the same: Obamacare is making life harder for everyday Americans. At the doctor's office, the dinner table and in the job market. " " she wrote in a counterpoint to the newspaper, which criticized House Republicans.
A skeptic would probably point out that McMorris Rodgers most recent visit to the home district was pretty much designed so she would mostly hear criticisms of the new law. A playbook for House Republicans returning home for the August recess (they prefer "work period") advised members to hold an Obamacare Media Tour "to emphasize the need to repeal Obamacare to protect employees, small businesses and jobs." Such events were to be peopled with like-minded folks, so the opportunity to hear something other than a discouraging word about the new law at those gatherings was pretty limited.
The forward to this "Planning Kit" was written by McMorris Rodgers herself, so it's a good bet she followed it closely.
The congresswoman did hold a "y'all come" town hall meeting in Spokane during that recess, but by most accounts the reaction to the Affodable Care Act was mixed, with some people unhappy with it, and others unhappy with McMorris Rodgers and her fellow Republicans for repeatedly trying to repeal it.
Yesterday she sent out a tweet noting problems on the opening day for Washington state's health care exchange, where people without insurance can sign up for plans, "#ObamaCare exchanges open today and #WA State's website isn't even working. Precursor to the complications to come," she wrote.
#ObamaCare exchanges open today and #WA State's website isn't even working. Precursor to the complications to come. pic.twitter.com/H4dhDwF2Y2
— CathyMcMorrisRodgers (@cathymcmorris) October 1, 2013
The tweet was time stamped at 7 a.m., which was before state officials said the website was supposed to open. The exchange did have problems later in the day, but for reasons that somewhat undercut her statement about people being so concerned about the program. The system was slow or crashed at times because so many people were trying to go online to sign up.
Figures released Wednesday from the Washington Health Benefit Exchange showed that the web site had 170,487 page views and the call center fielded 6,199 calls. It established 6,385 accounts.
The system is still having problems -- it's being taken down from 10 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday for maintenance -- and it would be a fair criticism that one might've expected better from the nearly $55 million contract Deloitte received to build it. But it seems fair to say that at least some people think the new law is going to make their lives easier.
