President Barack Obama dispatched his agriculture secretary to Atlanta on Tuesday to defend his signature healthcare overhaul law amid growing pressure over a rocky rollout that has created fresh political headaches for the White House.
The PR campaign underscored the White House's effort to depict the law as worthy of the nation's patience as problems plague the online insurance marketplace, a wave of policy cancellation notices hit consumers and fellow Democrats break ranks over the law.
Even Secretary Tom Vilsack noted the odd imagery of the nation’s agriculture czar at an urban hospital pitching a health law he has little role in implementing. But he vowed that the Affordable Care Act will someday be considered indispensable.
"At the end, people are going to see this just like they saw Medicare," Vilsack said at West End Medical Center. "Now if you try to take Medicare away, you're going to have a rebellion. But you're going to have to give it time to get there."
Georgia Republicans disputed the notion that time will smooth any wrinkles. The technical woes of healthcare.gov have emerged in fundraising mailers, campaign stump speeches and at press conferences as the go-to subject for GOP officials.
Gov. Nathan Deal, who voted against the overhaul as a member of Congress, said Tuesday the problems vindicate his decision to not to have Georgia to set up its own exchange — even though states that run their own are reportedly having fewer technical issues.
“The content of the legislation constantly changed, and those kinds of changes in a bill that had thousands of pages indicated there were gonna be glitches,” Deal said. “I think there will be even more serious consequences as this implementation takes place, primarily in 2014.”
At the west Atlanta hospital, Vilsack said the overhaul will provide health insurance for many of the roughly 20 percent of Americans living in rural areas who lack coverage. Those people, he said, have long “got the short end of a very long stick.”
He vowed the website will be up and running by December, but said the law’s effects are already resonating through more preventive care services, coverage of pre-existing medical conditions by insurers and changes allowing most young people to stay on their parents’ plan until age 26.
"We're beginning to see the benefits of the law," said Vilsack, who was among Obama deputies fanning out across the nation to stump for the law. "We just need to give it time."
Vilsack also criticized Deal's decision to reject an expansion of Medicaid that would have provided more than 650,000 low-income Georgians with health coverage. Though initial costs are borne by the federal government, Deal argues the long-term costs of an expansion would overwhelm the state's budget.
“It’s unfortunate that the state of Georgia hasn’t embraced Medicaid expansion,” said Vilsack, who added: “It seems to me it’s a pretty good deal for the states. I would urge Gov. Deal to think hard on that.”
Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens, an outspoken opponent who once declared he would be an "obstructionist" to the law, said earlier this week he hasn't talked to any Georgia residents who got coverage through the exchange. Vilsack declined to provide any state details.
“That’s unforgivable,” Hudgens said of the online exchange’s problems, adding: “I hope this whole thing implodes.”
However, Hudgens’ office has created a prominent page at the department website that links to information about the ACA, after months of hardly any mention of the overhaul or direction for the state’s citizens.
“Obamacare is the law of the land so I’m going to do what I need to do to benefit the people of Georgia,” he said. “I’m going to direct them to information, but I’m not going to do anything to make the Affordable Care Act successful.”
