{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://adriansmith.house.gov/%E2%80%9Cglitches%E2%80%9D-reflect-greater-problems", "\u201cGlitches\u201d Reflect Greater Problems", "2013-10-25", "2013", "2013-10", "Republican", "House", "NE", "Adrian Smith", "S001172", "adriansmith.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "After spending more than three years and hundreds of millions of dollars building and promoting the online health care marketplaces, the Obama Administration launched the new website on October 1st.\u00a0 Despite the raised concerns and repeated assurances by the administration it would be fully functional, very few people so far have been able to use even some of the most basic functions such as creating an account.\u00a0\nThe administration initially claimed the problems were due to technical \u201cglitches\u201d and because of overwhelming demand.\u00a0 It is now clear the problems are much deeper.\u00a0 The website simply doesn\u2019t work for the vast majority of users.\u00a0 In addressing the website\u2019s ineffectiveness, the President directed users to call the toll free help line which also faced long delays and usually referred users back to the defective website.\u00a0 For the few users who are able to actually log on to the website, price estimates frequently are wrong, the system often misidentifies individuals, and the information sent to insurance companies many times is inaccurate.\nNext week, the Committee on Ways and Means will hold a hearing on implementation of the health care law with Marilyn Tavenner, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services which oversees the operation of the exchanges.\u00a0 This hearing will be a good first step to identify how the administration has addressed implementation, and what is being done to correct the problems.\nWhile we do not have all of the answers yet, the website problems have highlighted that the health care law is overly-complex, expensive, and not ready for implementation.\nThird District residents have been contacting my office to share their stories and frustrations with the law and the website.\u00a0 The new mandates and regulations included in the law are forcing up the cost of insurance.\u00a0 One recent caller said her premium is set to go up about $5,000 next year with a high deductable.\nAnother Nebraskan e-mailed me after he was notified by his insurance company his plan would no longer be offered, and a comparable plan would cost him 110 percent more than he is currently paying.\u00a0 He hoped to be able to find more affordable coverage through the online exchanges, but so far has been unable to because the website cannot verify his identity.\u00a0 He argued, \u201cWe should not be forced to get insurance from a government that can\u2019t run things right.\u201d\u00a0\nI agree.\u00a0 It is not fair to penalize Americans with a tax for not buying insurance through a website which makes it nearly impossible to buy insurance.\u00a0 I am pleased even many Democrats have now joined Republicans in calling for a delay in the individual mandate.\u00a0 The administration has also agreed to extend the enrollment period before which Americans would be penalized for not having insurance.\u00a0 This decision is a good start but it is not enough.\u00a0\nWe need to put the brakes on implementation of the law before more damage is done to the cost of health care and to the American economy.\u00a0 While I continue to favor repeal of the law, given its disastrous debut, even supporters of the law should favor a delay to identify and fix the problems.\u00a0 Until these serious issues are resolved, I hope all sides would be willing to alleviate and lessen the problems this law is creating for the American people.", 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": ["http://adriansmith.house.gov/%E2%80%9Cglitches%E2%80%9D-reflect-greater-problems"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.8766270950436592, "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"}