Though it's still early in the health exchange enrollment period, not a single person in the Department of Health and Human Services secretary's home state has successfully signed up for coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to a Kansas legislator.
Rep. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas noted that based on information from one of the state's leading insurers, none of the state's 350,000-plus uninsured individuals was able to sign up for an insurance plan through the exchange.
"These results are stunning," said Huelskamp, in a statement obtained by LifeNews.com. "You would think with three years to prepare, President Obama and Kathleen Sebelius could deliver an operational website."
Though he has employee benefits, he stated that he attempted to sign up for coverage through the exchange, just to see if the marketplace's website was up and running. However, he was unsuccessful in doing so, citing "error message after error message, failed security standards and 60 hours on website hold for just this one Kansan."
Kathleen Sebelius, who serves as the department secretary for HHS, is the former governor of Kansas and one of the ACA's most fervent supporters, recently citing how buying coverage through the exchanges is cheaper than what was initially forecast.
"In the past, consumers were too often denied or priced-out of quality health insurance options, but thanks to the Affordable Care Act, consumers will be able to choose from a number of new coverage options at a price that is affordable," said Sebelius.
She stated that premiums through the exchanges will average 16 percent lower than was originally predicted by the federal government.
It's not yet clear how many people have been able to sign up for the exchanges, an issue that Jack Lew, secretary of the Treasury Department, was asked about in an interview Oct. 6 on "Fox News Sunday."
