Sen. Joe Manchin III, a critic of the troubled Obamacare rollout, believes the program can work if everyone gets on the same page and joins “Team America.”
Mr. Manchin, West Virginia Democrat, has called for a one-year delay of the health care reform’s individual mandate penalties, which would fine Americans for not having insurance. Such a delay, he says, would offer time for the Obama administration to work out the bugs with the glitch-plagued HealthCare.gov website.
But in the long run, Mr. Manchin believes, Obamacare can be a success if Republicans and Democrats, insurance companies and health care professionals all work together.
Speaking on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, he dismissed calls for the resignation of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, saying such a move would only add to problems.
“If you’re wanting to kill the program and you start making all these changes, that would kill the program,” he said. “All we’re asking for is — don’t have the fine go into place, get market-driven products … we are a consumer nation. We have the great entrepreneurs. We can make this happen, but we’ve all got to be on the same team right now, and that’s Team America to make this happen.”
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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