Frustrated with the disastrous rollout of HealthCare.gov, the Democratic coalition is beginning to crack slightly on the Affordable Care Act.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a frequent critic of the health care law, is preparing to introduce legislation that would delay Obamacare's individual mandate by a year. Other Senate Democrats are going to push for an extension of open enrollment in the exchanges. And House Democrats are openly venting their frustrations.
Manchin appeared on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" Wednesday night to discuss his plan, and he said there that he'd be open to working with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
"I came here to fix things," Manchin said. "Affordable health care was never meant to be, if you've got insurance now you're going to have to buy insurance that's more costly and not as good. That has to be fixed."
Manchin said he wouldn't attach his name to Rubio's legislation, which would delay the mandate's penalties until six months after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) certifies that the online exchanges are functional.
Manchin's willingness to look at tweaks to the law is nothing new. He said in September that he would support a year-long delay in the individual mandate — he just didn't support that being part of negotiations surrounding the federal government shutdown.
In fact, if there were any senator Democrats were worried about breaking off from the caucus during the debates, it was Manchin. He told Bill O'Reilly that he thinks he can get the votes for his plan, but no other Democrats have come out publicly in support.
Via: Fox News
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