Confusion, anger and criticism mark some Obamacare attitudes

Oct 15 2013

The public is still puzzled, tea party groups seeth with anger over the piecemeal chipping away of the health law and Sen. Mary Landrieu stands out among colleagues from the South for supporting the law. Meanwhile, a former Obama administration spokesman reveals criticism over the insurance exchange launches.

Politico: Tea Party Groups Still Want Obamacare Gutted
You go through a whole government shutdown so you can kill Obamacare dead, and all you get is a little more due diligence before people can get their subsidies? Tea party groups are furious over the prospect that Congress is drifting toward a government funding-debt ceiling deal that might just take the usual one or two tepid dings out of President Barack Obama's signature health care law, just like Congress has in previous fights (Nather, 10/15).

The Associated Press: Southern Democratic Senator Embraces Health Care Law Amid Showdown, But Her Colleagues Don't
In the tempest over shutdown politics, Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu stands out among Southern Democratic candidates with her embrace of the three-year-old health care law at the core of Capitol Hill dysfunction. A third-term senator who faces a tough re-election fight next year, Landrieu called Republicans "reckless and irresponsible and radical" for using the federal budget and looming vote to raise the debt ceiling as leverage for demands to scrap President Barack Obama's signature law (Barrow, 10/14).

CNN: Former Obama Spokesman: Fire Those Who Botched Obamacare Website 
The man who was once tasked with defending the Obama White House and its biggest legislative achievement was not impressed Monday with how Obamacare's online insurance exchanges have been implemented. "This is excruciatingly embarrassing for the White House and for the Department of Health and Human Services," former White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on MSNBC's "NOW with Alex Wagner." "This was bungled badly. This was not a server problem; just too many people came to the website. This is a website architecture problem" (10/14).

The Associated Press: Health Overhaul Supporters Hope Confusion Ends
It's been more than three years since President Barack Obama signed the health care law, more than one year since the Supreme Court upheld its central tenet and two weeks since the health exchanges opened nationwide, but supporters still face a surprising predicament: a confused public (Lobianco, 10/14).