Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio slammed the administration’s latest exemption to the individual mandate requirement, calling it a “slap in the face” that did not deal with the underlying problems with the law.
With just four days until the deadline to sign up for individual health insurance, the administration punted, saying that people who had lost their insurance as a result of the new healthcare law would not be required to purchase insurance for next year; or, if they did buy insurance, they could purchase a “catastrophic plan,” one that does not provide sufficient coverage under the Obamacare guidelines.
“The administration is recognizing the grim reality that more Americans have lost health insurance than gained it under Obamacare,” Rubio said in a statement late Thursday night.
“Holding a fire sale of cheap insurance is not a responsible fix for a broken program,” he continued. “This is a slap in the face to the thousands of Americans who have already purchased expensive insurance through the Obamacare exchanges. Obamacare as originally conceived is a flawed policy and must be repealed.”