WASHINGTON - Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health Ranking Member Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA) responds to the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) reports on the status of Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation:
“Right now, this country is in the middle of the largest roll out of a social program since the establishment of Medicare, which faced many of the same challenges as the Affordable Care Act today.
“Workers then went door to door to enroll seniors and were often angrily turned away. At the time, the American Medical Association denounced Medicare as the first step towards Socialism and the New York Times wondered if hospitals would be overrun with sick elderly individuals and have nowhere to place them. Yet Medicare is now the bedrock of our social safety net.
“Today’s GAO reports show that the Obama Administration has made much progress in the establishment of health insurance marketplaces, given the extreme complexity of the task. It also notes that much remains to be accomplished. Unsurprisingly, opponents of the ACA and the conservative press are using this fact to rationalize continued scare tactics.
“As the President has said, there will be bumps in the road but we will get there. Rather than scaring people, let's focus on the real work needed to make sure that this reform continues to help the millions of Americans it’s intended to benefit."
