Sarah Hurtubise reports for the Daily Caller on new survey data involving the Obama administration’s decision to push a key Affordable Care Act deadline past the midterm election.
A large majority of Americans are calling out the Obama administration’s decision last year to delay Obamacare enrollment until after midterm elections as an overtly political move, according to a new poll from nonpartisan health research firm HealthPocket.
Close to a year ago, the Obama administration pushed back the start date for Obamacare’s open enrollment period by one month, from Oct. 15 to Nov. 15, conveniently after the midterm elections next week. The public — liberals and conservatives alike — aren’t buying the claim that it wasn’t a political decision. Sixty-three percent of those surveyed nationwide think it was a political move; just 37 percent disagree.
The administration claimed last November, when it revealed the change, that it wanted to give insurers more time after the first enrollment period to analyze claims and decide on 2015 premium rates. Officials emphasized that they wanted to give insurers every opportunity to keep premium rates down.
But the first enrollment period’s dates were static — insurers’ time to decide on 2015 rates never changed, just the administration’s opinion on how long was appropriate.
“Despite the regions, and the differences in political leanings, you still saw a lot of consistency in the response rates,” HealthPocket’s head of research and data Kev Coleman, told The Daily Caller. “This was something that regardless of whether or not it was a blue state area or a red state area, Americans seem to share the same perspective on it.”
