US health secretary says Obamacare debut a ‘debacle’

The US government’s top health official has said private insurance companies, not president Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, are to blame for hundreds of thousands of people losing their coverage in the past few weeks.

Health and human services secretary Kathleen Sebelius called the debut of the Affordable Care Act a "debacle" as she sought to assure skeptical lawmakers at a congressional hearing that the administration will fix technical flaws with the website.

HealthCare.gov, which opened for enrollment on October 1st, ironically went down over the course of the four-hour hearing.

But even as Ms Sebelius acknowledged that the administration should have done more to ensure the portal would work smoothly, she blamed private insurers for a separate problem that has critics questioning the administration’s honesty and competence.

When asked by Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee what she would say to Americans receiving cancellation notices because their policies are not compliant with the new law, Ms Sebelius said: "Insurance companies cancel individual policies year in and year out."

Mr Obama, who is due to speak about the healthcare reform known as Obamacare later, and other administration officials have repeatedly promised that the 85 per cent of Americans who already have health insurance would be able to keep their current plans.

But because the law requires insurers to offer a higher level of coverage, millions of Americans on individual coverage plans may see their policies cancelled at the end of the year. Many face higher monthly payments for new plans that in some cases are beyond what they can afford.

Ms Sebelius said private insurers were making “business decisions” by cancelling some members’ coverage. The Affordable Care Act protected policies made before it was signed into law in 2010, she said.

She said those who lost coverage were victims of a market long known for discriminating against the sick and selling inadequate coverage - shortcomings that the law known as Obamacare was designed to fix. “People are on their own. They can be locked out, priced out, dumped out,” she said.

Reuters