Senator warns of Obamacare ‘meltdown’

Senator Joe Manchin says that a transitional year would be needed for the presidentâ„¢s healthcare program to work properly.

A Democratic senator says that President Barack Obamaâ„¢s signature healthcare law could face a Å“meltdown” if the current problems with the program are not resolved.

This could result in the Democratic Partyâ„¢s failure to keep control of the US Senate in 2014, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia told CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday.

He asserted that a transitional year would be needed for the presidentâ„¢s healthcare program to work properly.

“If it’s so much more expensive than what we anticipated and if the coverage is not as good as what we had, you’ve got a complete meltdown at that time,” Manchin said.

“It falls of its own weight, if basically the cost becomes more than we can absorb, absolutely,” he added.

The White House has been struggling for months to control the damage from the botched October 1 launch of the Affordable Care Act.

Just 26,794 Americans signed up for private health insurance through Obamacare in October using the administration’s floundering healthcare.gov website. Another 79,000 registered through separate state exchanges, bringing the total to just more than 100,000 people.

However, these people have complained about higher premiums than they previously had to pay for health insurance after the cancelation of their old plans due to new standards under Obamaâ„¢s healthcare law as well as problems with the programâ„¢s web portal.

Obama has announced a one-year reprieve for millions of Americans who have had their insurance coverage cancelled.

The widespread difficulties with the new healthcare law have been one of the main culprits for Obamaâ„¢s waning popularity.

According to a recent NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll, 54 percent of Americans believe the president is facing a long-term setback because of his healthcare law.

Only 34 percent of Americans said Obamacare is a good idea while 50 percent said it is a bad idea, the highest percentage on that measure since the NBC/WSJ poll began asking the question.

AT/HJ

Source: Press TV