While U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius owned up to the glitches that have plagued Healthcare.gov since the day it rolled out, she didn't do enough to reassure the American people that the exchanges are ultimately in the American people's best interest.
That's according to Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, an organization that is challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
"Secretary Sebelius failed to provide any reason why the American people should have confidence in ObamaCare and a website that failed to operate even during her testimony," said Sekulow. "Unfortunately, what we heard from Secretary Sebelius was nothing new – more excuses for the disastrous rollout and more promises to fix the problems."
He added that the apologies and pledges to do better are becoming old and no longer mean much because the administration has made these entreaties on multiple occasions before. Additionally, he pointed out that one of many unintended consequences of the health care overhaul is the rate at which many people are losing their plans because they don't comply with the minimum standards established by the federal government. Some needs to be held responsible for causing frustration for millions of people.
"An apology without accountability is meaningless," said Sekulow.
The employer mandate was delayed until 2015, but due to the way in which the individual market has performed, organizations are supplying information reports regarding what business owners should be sure to prepare for ahead of the rollout. Tax and consulting services firm McGladrey recently produced a whitepaper, titled "The Affordable Care Act: What's next for employers?" which outlines some of the changes entrepreneurs can expect when the law goes into effect a little over a year from now.
