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Health Care Glitches May Cancel Coverage for Thousands

Independent Study Suggests Health Law Lowering Wages

(Washington, D.C.) – The Obama Administration recently warned more than 300,000 consumers about next week’s deadline to verify their immigration status or lose health care benefits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. But due to ongoing glitches with the Healthcare.gov website, many have found it impossible to submit the required. Consumers are being forced to send information multiple times – and many can't access their accounts at all. Even when people are able to access their accounts, many are unable to upload documents. Unless they find a way to prove eligibility, thousands of U.S. citizens will likely lose benefits to which they are legally entitled.

At the same time, new research from the Economic Policy Institute suggests that the health care law may be leading to lower wages for American workers. Supporters of the law had argued that it would have the opposite effect. Despite a growing economy however, wages fell for workers in 9 out of 10 wage percentiles measured.

Daniel Garza, Executive Director of The LIBRE Initiative released the following statement:

“The ongoing headaches with the Healthcare.gov website now pose a particular problem for many who are qualified to participate in the new health care regime. Because of the ongoing failure of this system, they may lose the coverage to which they are entitled under the law This is not what the supporters of the law have promised – and it flies in the face of the assurances that have been given that the problems in the website have been fixed.

Adding insult to injury, it now appears that the ACA is lowering the wages of working Americans – as was predicted by many of the law’s critics. These serious problems must be addressed – and they must be addressed soon. Instead, supporters of the law want to pretend everything is going fine. It is far past time to reform the reform.”

For interviews with a LIBRE representative, please contact: Brian Faughnan, 703-678-4581 or Steven Cruz, 202-578-6173.

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