Republican Sen. John Barrasso hit the Obama administration for “celebrating” Obamacare sign-ups while the health care law remains as unpopular as ever.
“It’s time for the White House to stop celebrating and start thinking about the people,” the Wyoming senator said on the Senate floor Wednesday, according to The Hill.
“Is the Obama administration pleased that the president’s health care law is so much less popular than the president and Democrats expected it to be?” Barrasso asked.
“The Obama administration and every Democrat who voted for it should be embarrassed for it.”
The health care law remains unpopular, as ever. More Americans view continue to Obamacare unfavorably than favorably, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, which has remained the case since 2012. More Americans still report that they’ve personally been hurt by the law than say they’ve been helped, Rasmussen found last week, even after the second open enrollment period concluded, with boosted enrollment totals.
Department of Health and Human Services secretary Sylvia Burwell and the White House itself have been promoting the end of Obamacare’s second open enrollment period (before it’s effectively re-opened come tax season), complete with close to 11.7 million sign-ups for health coverage nationwide.
Barrasso also hit the administration for promoting the Congressional Budget Office’s finding that Obamacare costs are falling — partially because Obamacare enrollment is actually lower than expected. The CBO originally projected that the exchanges would have amassed 13 million customers by their second year of operation, although it dropped that estimate to 12 million amid HealthCare.gov’s tech troubles. (RELATED: CBO: Obamacare Premiums Will Increase Faster Than Private Plans)
As a leading member of the Senate’s working group on an alternative to Obamacare, Barrasso has also proposed contingency plans for customers whose exchange premiums skyrocket if the Supreme Court rules against the Obama administration this summer in King v. Burwell and subsidies to HealthCare.gov customers are cut off.