{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.boozman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/dr-boozman-s-check-up?ContentRecord_id=61940079-f2c4-4016-995a-46c42aab8c50", "The President's Right: The ACA is Not Just a Website (Which is Exactly Why You Should be Worried)", "2013-10-21", "2013", "2013-10", "Republican", "House", "AR", "John Boozman", "B001236", "www.boozman.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Yesterday, as he struggled to explain away the failures of healthcare.gov\u2014the website that most Americans must visit to enroll in Obamacare\u2014President Obama said, \u201cThe Affordable Care Act is not just a website. It\u2019s much more.\u201d\r\nHe\u2019s right. It\u2019s not just a website. However, the website should be the easy part. The fact that the Administration can\u2019t deliver on the easiest of its healthcare promises does not bode well for Americans forced into this bureaucratic monstrosity.\r\nAccording to Consumer Reports, of the nearly 9.5 million people who tried to register in the first week, only 271,000 were able to create an account. That's not even close to the amount of people who were able to actually purchase a plan. That number, while not released by the White House, is anticipated to be significantly lower.\r\nThe low number of actual accounts is just part of the problem.\r\nRon Fournier of National Journal has documented a number of the complaints being directed at the White House from those who have tried to sign-up for Obamacare:\r\n \r\nLow-income people erroneously told they don't qualify for Medicaid\r\nInsurance companies getting confusing information about who has signed-up\r\nInaccurate information provided to people about federal tax credits\r\n \r\nThe last point is particularly startling, and it\u2019s a preview to what is the next major shock created by Obamacare.\r\nAs the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) points out, much of the current tech problems stem directly from the failure of Healthcare.gov to reliably calculate subsidies.\r\nSo what happens when Americans inevitably find out they don\u2019t actually qualify for the subsidies they were promised? When a government\u2019s miscalculation means Americans owe more money, who suffers?\r\nAgain, this was supposed to be the easy part. What happens when the federal government tries to verify coverage, subsidy qualifications or compliance?\r\nThe troubles with Obamacare run far deeper than \u201ctechnical glitches.\u201d The Administration\u2019s lackluster response to the online enrollment problems shines a light on this program\u2019s gross mismanagement.\u00a0\r\nHealthcare.gov is a microcosm of the serious problems created by putting a government bureaucracy in charge of your health care. Bloated. Incompetent. Glitchy. Americans have to tolerate this from government services on a daily basis. It is the very reason that we are trying to prevent President Obama\u2019s unprecedented expansion of the federal government. With a dubious track record of results from federal programs, President Obama now wants to put our health care in the hands of the very people who mismanage the other dysfunctional services the government provides.\r\nThe Administration needs to own up to the fact that Obamacare is not ready for primetime and delay the individual mandate. The real solution is repealing this law and replacing it with healthcare reform that will work. I continue to work toward that end.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.boozman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/dr-boozman-s-check-up?ContentRecord_id=61940079-f2c4-4016-995a-46c42aab8c50"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5457530971616507, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}