OVERNIGHT HEALTH: No going back
President Obama declared Tuesday that ObamaCare “is working” and that “we’re not going back,” as the White House looked to reboot its efforts to sell Americans on his signature healthcare law. Obama said that “poor execution” of the rollout of HealthCare.gov had “clouded” the benefits of the bill, but said he would not allow technical glitches to undermine a program that was providing financial security for many Americans.
“If I’ve got to fight another three years to make sure this law works, that’s what we’ll do,” Obama said. Justin Sink at The Hill reports.
{mosads}Fighting Irish: The University of Notre Dame on Tuesday refiled a lawsuit contesting the controversial birth control mandate under ObamaCare. The school said it believes the requirement that it provide its employees birth control as part of their insurance coverage impinges on its religious beliefs, and that efforts by the Obama administration to find a solution would not resolve the issue. Jonathan Easley at The Hill reports.
Oops: Rep. Darrell Issa’s office told The Hill that the California Republican tried to log on to the District of Columbia’s healthcare exchange on Tuesday but got an error message. Take a look for yourself:
No surprise here…. Tried enrolling in the D.C. #Obamacare exchange & was met with an error message. http://t.co/BwRoE4FJcS
— Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) December 3, 2013
The chairman of the House Oversight Committee will look into “the limitations of big government” on Wednesday as hearings on ObamaCare return to Capitol Hill.
Also on tap for Wednesday are a House Ways and Means subcommittee on Health hearing on the ObamaCare implementation, a House Small Business Committee hearing about how businesses are viewed under the law, and a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Health hearing about Medicare.
7 figures: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says that 1 million people visited the HealthCare.gov website on Monday. The administration had said that it hoped the site could accommodate 800,000 in one day by Nov. 30, so hitting the 1 million mark with no major issues is encouraging news for the problem-plagued site. Jonathan Easley at The Hill reports.
State by State:
California successfully launched its small-business exchange one week after the Health and Human Services Department delayed the federal launch for a full year. Read more at The Hill.
Alaska’s ObamaCare enrollment is moving at a glacial pace. The Alaska Dispatch has the story.
Reading List:
The young won’t show up for ObamaCare, says The Weekly Standard.
Republicans near dead-end on ObamaCare, from Mother Jones.
Is ObamaCare stanching the rise of healthcare costs? Find out, courtesy The New Yorker.
What you may have missed at HealthWatch:
White House contests reports of website problems.
Administration touts Medicaid jump.
The Treasury inspector general says ObamaCare tax subsidies are susceptible to fraud.
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