Now, Arizona Congressman Ron Barber is not only having to defend Obamacare itself, but is having to defend his constituents from it. According to a statement put out by the Congressman’s office, a portion of the health care law “led some Arizonans to erroneously choose an insurance plan that didn’t meet their needs.”
Barber had to call on top federal officials to correct the problem.
According to Barber, an example of his efforts on behalf of constituents is one Tucsonan who was caught up in the problem said she was unable to get any resolution until she contacted Barber and her issue was resolved promptly. “They told us that there was absolutely nothing we could do about it,” Ellen Goldman said. “Congressman Barber’s office is the place that finally fixed it for me.”
“I’m fighting to make the health care law work for all Southern Arizonans.” Barber said today. “When I hear from the people I represent that they are struggling to get the right insurance or see their doctor, I’m going to work to fix those problems.”
Last month, Barber was contacted by constituents who bought health insurance through the federal healthcare.gov website and later discovered that their policies did not include the doctors they wanted.
Barber reports that those people had purchased plans in a “narrow network” because they were less expensive than other plans from the same providers. But lacking any warnings of the limits of the narrow network plans, they had no way of knowing that the plan they chose did not include doctors they wanted. In some cases, rural residents found the nearest participating doctors were hundreds of miles away.
Goldman was one of those caught in the narrow-network trap. She and her husband, both of whom are retired, purchased health insurance through healthcare.gov. But when they tried to use it, they found that despite their best efforts to research and confirm they would have access to the same doctors, their doctors were not part of the narrow plan.
When Goodman and others found out the doctors they wanted were not in the plan they bought, they were prevented by federal rules from switching to another plan.
Barber’s office immediately contacted federal officials to alert them to the impact on Goldman and others in Arizona and called on them to change the federal policy to allow consumers to switch to another plan with the same provider.
While Barber is defending his constituents from the ACA, he us doing nothing to eliminate the increasingly unpopular program. Quite the contrary, on February 5, Barber also joined Arizona Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick and Kyrsten Sinema in writing a letter to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, to again urge the department to solve the narrow network issue.
In the letter, Barber and his colleagues made suggestions on how to fix the problem and added: “For those individuals who have inadvertently purchased narrow network plans, we ask that you provide greater operational flexibility through healthcare.gov, and work with insurance providers and appropriate state agencies so that these individuals can smoothly transition to plans that better fit their needs.”
Two days later, that policy change was mandated. Barber was notified that his constituents would be able to move to a plan that includes their family’s preferred provider if they previously bought a narrow-network plan that did not include their doctors.
It is the arbitrary treatment of the ACA requirements by the Obama administration that has caused to much anger and confusion. The president has exempted nearly every special interest group from the expensive and onerous program except individuals. He has delayed implementation, ordered exemptions, and acted unilaterally often times without regard or input from the American people and their elected representatives.
Earlier this week, Barber expressed support for the unilateral decision by the president to delay the employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act.