“The website was supposed to be the easy part of this. So I see actually this is just the tip of the iceberg of problems with bigger problems to come.”
Click Here to Watch Sen. Barrasso.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) appeared on ABC’s "This Week” this morning to discuss the problem-plagued rollout of Obamacare.
Key excerpts of the interview:
On Problems with Obamacare Website:
“I’ll tell you as a doctor, I want to make sure that patients can actually get affordable, high-quality care. The website was supposed to be the easy part of this. So I see actually this is just the tip of the iceberg of problems with bigger problems to come. The Democrats are at a point of high anxiety, Americans have been very skeptical about this health care law, but now, George, there is a lot of anger about the wasted taxpayer dollars on this website. About all about of the waivers that the President has given to business, to unions, to members of Congress, the fact that nobody who works at the White House is going to have to sign up on the exchanges and now Americans are saying, wait a minute, why do I have to pay a fine if I don’t sign up? None of these other people seem to have the same problems.
On How Obamacare Increases Rates for Rural Americans:
“Folks in my office are going to help any citizen with anything every way that we can. I will tell you, what I want is affordable care for American citizens and in my home state of Wyoming and Joe’s home state of West Virginia, we see that the rates are actually going to be higher. The ‘New York Times’ front-page story the other day said exactly that, that the law has failed to provide affordable care and coverage in rural America. So that is a real problem the President made promises that this was going to be cheaper than your cell phone bill, easier to use than Amazon and you could keep your doctor. People all across the country George are seeing that’s just not true.
On the Need for a Delay on Individual Mandate:
“Joe Manchin and I have co-sponsored a number of pieces of legislation about American energy— we continue to work together and are good friends. What he is proposing is a good idea, because one it’s a law, it’s not just the President waving his magic wand and saying well this doesn’t apply here, we’ll give these people waivers, we’ll let other people out of it. So I encourage Senator Manchin. But again, that’s just the first step. People are getting hit with sticker shock. You know we’ve had more people since October 1st George get letters of denial where they’re losing the insurance that they have, than have been people that have actually been able to sign up for Obama health care law.
On HHS Secretary Sebelius:
“You talk about Secretary Sebelius and her comments—she’s already as of ‘Saturday Night Live’ last night, the laughing stock of America. So she’s lost considerable credibility and even when she says hey things are going better with the exchanges. I will tell you just on Friday in Washington state, 8,000 people, because the state exchange wasn’t coordinated with the federal database, 8,000 people were told they were going to get a higher subsidy than they’re actually going to get. Now they’re going to have to go back to all of those people and say no you’re going to even pay more out of your own pocket than you thought you were going to.”
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