Manchin touts legislation to delay Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate

The White House has consistently said it will not accept a delay in the mandate.

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) touted his bill to delay ObamaCare’s individual mandate Sunday as a way to establish a “transition period” to improve the troubled enrollment website.

Manchin said he’s not sure the Obama administration would accept the bill and added that he hasn’t spoken with any administration officials about it in detail.

The White House has consistently said it will not accept a delay in the mandate, which requires most people to carry health insurance by April 1, 2014.

{mosads}But Manchin insisted that “we need time for that transition period” in order to ensure the law’s benefits are easily available to consumers.

“There are a lot of good things that help a lot of West Virginians in the bill,” Manchin told ABC’s “This Week,” but we “need that transition period” to make sure they work.”

The first-term senator also appeared to criticize ObamaCare, suggesting that it’s raising prices and lowering the quality of some health plans.

“Nobody should be forced to buy a policy that costs more than what they had and is inferior to what they had,” Manchin said.

But he added that there is also much to like in the law. “We can’t go back to the old system,” he said.

The Affordable Care Act requires all health insurance policies to contain a minimum level of benefits.

Supporters of the law acknowledge that this will raise prices on some policyholders but argue it will improve the care available to them.