Elizabeth Warren:

[ProSense]

Senator Warren Highlights Massachusetts Health Care at HELP Committee Hearing on Affordable Care Act Implementation

Nov 5, 2013

Video is available here

Washington, DC – At a Senate Health Education Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing today, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren compared Massachusetts' health reform launch to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace, including similar technical problems, enrollment trends and cost benefits.

Senator Warren explained that in 2007, Massachusetts' website experienced technical problems that required a "tech surge" to fix. She questioned Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner about the HealthCare.gov website and noted that in Massachusetts, "we stayed focused on what mattered - our conviction that no one deserved to be bankrupt or shut out of the system when they got sick."

The Senator called on Administrator Tavenner to describe the administration's projections about the enrollment trends, and the impacts that the technological problems with the website might have on those trends. "Our enrollment period for subsidized insurance lasted almost a full year, and yet it was only in the last month that 20% of the total pool got themselves enrolled. People signing up for unsubsidized insurance had a shorter period of time, and yet over a quarter of them waited until the last month to get enrolled," said Senator Warren, explaining that regardless of the length of an enrollment period, consumers tend to wait to sign up until the end.

Senator Warren also discussed the struggles of the health care industry before the ACA, "costs exploded, insurance companies discriminated against people with preexisting conditions, too many consumers and patients - including those with insurance - were threatened with financial ruin if they got sick." The senator touted the elimination of lifetime coverage limits and of insurance companies' ability to discriminate against consumers with pre-existing conditions and encouraged fixing these systems so that families across the country have the health care they need, like families in Massachusetts.

http://www.warren.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=277

[spanone]

1. k&r...

[Thinkingabout]

2. I know I would have loved to see the sign up for ACA to have happened without any problems

But reality does not happen perfectly. I have health insurance and though I am curious about how much I would have to pay after the problems in the first few days I did not try to even check. I have heard RW talking points and don't believe the stories but I have to prepare myself to defend against RWers and show them they are in fact lying. When Mitt Romney was on the Sunday shows he did not talk about the problem Senator Warren has revealed but he did not fail to speak I'll of the ACA. Funny how that happens. Thanks for your info, the truth will find its way.

[bluestate10]

3. I am glad that we have Senator Warren in the Senate and proud that she is from my state. nt

[sheshe2]

4. I am from Massachusetts,

I know our health care has been pretty awesome here.

Two years ago we moved our Dad back to Mass. He was suffering from Alzheimer's and Dementia. For a while we tried to care for him at home. It became impossible, my sister and I both worked full time. He needed full time care. My sister was able to navigate the system and found a nursing home for him, a good one. He is cared for by his VA benefits, Medicaid and the Mass health system.

I thank our President for making this the law of the land, and our Senator Warren for explaining the facts.

Thanks, ProSense.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

5. How fortunate

to have Senator Warren to speak from experience about what Massachusetts went through. Implementing the ACA is a long, complicated process for many reasons (including Repub sabotage). But in that process, we're saying good-bye to an historically unfair, egregious system that has only resulted in unnecessary suffering and death for citizens and over-the-top profits for insurance companies.

Thank you, Senator Warren - you're in the right place at the right time.

[ProSense]

6. Yes. n/t