Problems with the rollout of the new health care law go further than website glitches, the Morning Joe panel said on Wednesday’s show.
“This is not about a broken website anymore,” co-host Willie Geist said. “This is about the substance of the law that is hurting some percentage of Americans.”
An estimated 40,000 to 50,000 people signed up for private insurance coverage or Medicaid since HealthCare.gov went live on Oct. 1, according to a report released by the Wall Street Journal. But the White House expected at least 500,000 individuals to sign up during the first month.
Related: Health care enrollment falls short of expectations
President Obama last week said he will task his team to look at a range of options to ensure no Americans are put in a position where their plans have been canceled and they can’t afford better coverage.
Former President Bill Clinton this week agreed with the bipartisan call that Obama should stick to his now infamous promise that Americans should be allowed to keep their current coverage if they favor the plans.
“This is a seminal moment in this debate,” host Joe Scarborough said on the show. “It’s hard to get around that promise.”
American voters continue to disapprove of Obama’s job performance by a margin of 54 to 39%, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday.
“The American people are feeling deceived,” said businessman Donny Deutsch, who compared Obama’s health care issues to former President George W. Bush’s dealing with the war in Iraq.
But the core essence of Obama’s health care law has been tainted, and Americans feel “soured,” Deutsch said.
“I don’t know how you put the genie back in the bottle,” he said. “I think that the perception right now is so damaged, I don’t know if this legislation ever fully comes back for us.”
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Michele Richinick