WASHINGTON, D.C. — West Virginia Third District Congressman Nick Rahall was one of 39 Democrats to vote for a Republican House plan Friday that would allow Americans to keep their existing health care coverage without penalties through next year.
Rahall and a number of other House Democrats upset with President Obama and the Obamacare rollout.
The 19-term congressman said the House bill honors the original intention and promise of the Affordable Health Care law. He said West Virginia residents and others who have had their health insurance policies canceled need more time to learn what new options are available to them.
“Because of the website troubles the people cannot find those policies that may be in their better interest than what they’re currently on,” Rahall told MetroNews affiliate WVOW in Logan. “All they know is they are going to be cut-off from what they are currently on.”
Nearly 9,000 West Virginians have received cancellation notices.
President Obama announced Thursday insurance companies would be allowed to keep people on plans that don’t meet the minimum requirements of Obamacare without penalty. Insurance companies have responded negatively to the President’s about-face. Rahall said what the President did was a step in the right direction but he’s remains skeptical and it still doesn’t satisfy the concerns of those who have received cancellation letters.
Rahall called the rollout of Obamacare “rotten.”
“It’s disgusting and I’m as mad about it as the next person is. But somebody in the administration should have known about this and whoever that somebody is should no longer be a somebody in the administration,” Rahall said.
Rahall, who is up for reelection next year, is being criticized in television ads in his home district for his previous support of Obamacare. Cabell County state Senator Evans Jenkins switched political parties earlier this year in hopes of facing Rahall in the 2014 fall election.