Judge strikes down new Trump rule on religious objections

NEW YORK – A federal judge on Wednesday struck down a new Trump administration rule that could open the way for more health care workers to refuse to participate in abortions or other procedures on moral or religious grounds.

U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer said the U.S. Health and Human Services Department overstepped its authority and went beyond existing law in issuing the rule. He also said that the measure could be costly, burdensome and damaging to emergency care and that the whole rationale for the rule was based on a lie.

He said the department’s claim that there was a significant increase in complaints about workers being forced to violate their conscience was “flatly untrue.” The HHS rule, he said, is a classic “solution in search of a problem.”

Nineteen states, the District of Columbia, three local governments, health organizations and others had sued to block the rule from taking effect Nov. 22, arguing that it would be discriminatory and would interfere with people’s access to health care.

“Today, the Trump administration has been blocked from providing legal cover for discrimination,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president of Planned Parenthood. “As the federal district court made clear, the administration acted outside its authority and made false claims to try to justify this rule.”

Rosie Phillips Davis, president of the American Psychological Association, said the HHS rule “could have jeopardized the health of some of our most vulnerable populations, including women, LGBT people and people with HIV or AIDS.”

But Sen. Ben Sasse, a Nebraska Republican, called the ruling “absurd mush” and urged the Trump administration to appeal.

Health care institutions have long relied on federal Conscience Provisions first created in 1973 and amended since then that protected health care professionals from carrying out services that conflict with their religious or moral beliefs.

The new HHS rule broadens the list of health care personnel who can refuse to participate, expanding it to those who counsel, refer, train or make arrangements for a medical procedure.

It also restricts the ability of employers to inquire about employees’ objections and broadens the definition of health care entities to include pharmacists and medical laboratories.

Thus, the judge warned, a hospital or clinic receptionist who schedules appointments, an elevator operator or an ambulance driver could refuse on moral or religious grounds to do their jobs.


He said the rule could force some health care employers to double or triple staff, particularly during emergencies.

“These limits have clear potential to inhibit the employer’s ability to organize workplace arrangements to avoid inefficiencies and dislocations,” Engelmayer said.

Engelmayer, who was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, said HHS lacked authority to create major portions of the rule, including a provision that said a health care institution’s federal funding can be cut off for violating the measure.

He said it should be left to Congress to decide whether to change the laws regarding employers’ duty to accommodate religious objections. /gsg

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Hainan envisions China as a medical tourism destination

BEIJING — Southern China’s Hainan province has unveiled plans aimed at building the tropical island into a world-class medical tourism hub, combining high-end medical tourism with characteristic Chinese healthcare.

The move follows a plan released a week ago by the National Development and Reform Commission to encourage tourism-related activities in Hainan, such as medical tourism, horse racing, sports betting and an instant lottery.

Focusing on four key areas — medical treatment, medical cosmetology, rehabilitation and health promotion — Hainan will introduce internationally renowned institutions, insurance providers and intermediary service agencies to build a high-end foundation for the international medical tourism market, the plan said.

In 10 years, Hainan is projected to become a major medical tourism destination with total annual business revenue reaching 40 billion yuan ($5.84 billion).

Eight major tourism projects will be developed, covering fields such as cancer treatment and rehabilitation, fertility therapy, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease treatment and rehabilitation, environmental healing and sports recuperation, traditional Chinese medicine and spiritual retreat.

Medical tourism has become one of the world’s fastest-growing emerging industries, and Hainan has unique conditions for developing it, Governor Shen Xiaoming said on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2018 in April.

Under the plan, Hainan will tap its characteristic resources of vast coastal areas, tropical rainforests and hot springs to cultivate innovative healthcare and leisure products, and develop a high-end and characteristic medical tourism service system.

It will strive to establish a complete healthcare tourism service system that provides high-end, precision medical treatment and high-quality specialty in medical beauty and health promotion services, it said

To stimulate the industries, Hainan will explore flexible policies, regulatory models and management systems for investment, financing, fiscal and taxation, financial innovation, entry and exit, to create a highland for medical tourism opening up.

Worldwide, increasing convenience in transportation, expansion of the internet and improvement of people’s incomes have led to a booming medical tourism industry, which grows at about 20 percent annually around the globe. According to media reports, the business volume of medical tourism jumped to $700 billion in 2017 from $10 billion in 2000. In China, more than 600,000 people went overseas as medical tourists in 2016.

As a demonstration project, launched in 2013 by the State Council to explore international medical tourism, Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone has been granted nine special preferential policies including permission to import medical technology, equipment and medicine, and cutting-edge technological research on stem cells before other parts of China.


Twenty-seven medical projects have been completed or are under construction in the pilot zone, and another 38 projects have passed medical technology appraisals. Eight projects are now open. All projects in the pilot zone are targeted to be completed within five years.

According to Shen, the pilot zone will first attract domestic patients who would otherwise travel abroad, and later patients from Southeast and even the whole of Asia. Last year, medical institutions in Sanya alone received nearly 20,000 medical tourists from overseas.

“Hainan will first attract domestic tourists with advantages of prices, convenience, language and culture over outbound medical tourism,’’ said Chen Yang­le, a professor at Hainan University’s Tourism College.

“The industry will also attract international medical institution investors. … In the long run, there will also be comparative advantages for Hainan to attract medical tourists from southeast Asian countries and other areas in terms of natural environment, favorable policies and convenient air services,’’ said Chen.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

India launches ‘Modicare,’ world’s biggest health scheme

NEW DELHI, India — India on Sunday launched the world’s biggest health insurance scheme which Prime Minister Narendra Modi said would cover some 500 million poor people.

The program, dubbed “Modicare,” promises health cover worth 500,000 rupees ($6,900) to every poor family to treat serious ailments.

The scheme is expected to cost the central and 29 state governments $1.6 billion per year in total. Funding will be increased gradually according to demand.

Modi handed medical cards out at the launch in Ranchi, capital of the eastern state of Jharkhand, calling it a historic day for India.

He called the scheme “a big step towards providing good quality and accessible healthcare to the poor of India. Over 100 million families will benefit.”

India’s overburdened public health system is plagued by a shortage of hospitals and doctors and most people use private clinics and hospitals if they can afford to.

But a private consultation can cost 1,000 rupees ($15), a huge sum for millions living on less than $2 a day.

More than 60 percent of the average family’s spending goes on medicines and healthcare, the government estimates.
Experts have praised the latest program but say it should have included primary day-to-day healthcare instead of just secondary and tertiary care for more serious and long term treatment.

“Modicare does not extend to primary healthcare, which, we believe, is the weakest link in the provision of public health in India,” Rajiv Lall and Vivek Dehejia of the IDFC Institute think-tank said in a column for the Mint newspaper.

“The crucial point is that poorly delivered primary care inevitably increases the burden on health and finance at the secondary and tertiary levels down the line,” they said. /ee

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Sweden’s healthcare system bogged down by shortage of doctors, nurses

Asia Nader didn’t know whether to worry more about being diagnosed with a hole in her heart at the age of 21, or having to wait a year for Swedish doctors to fix it.

“I completely fell apart when I found out,” she told AFP, remembering the long agonising months until she finally had her operation in June this year, one month before her 23rd birthday.


Sweden has the fifth-highest life expectancy in Europe and cancer survival rates are among the continent’s highest, according to 2017 OECD figures.

But Swedes are frustrated over their universal healthcare, one of the main pillars of their cherished welfare state, with long waiting queues due to a shortage of nurses and available doctors in some areas.

“Swedes have little confidence that politicians will solve this,” said Lisa Pelling, chief analyst at progressive think tank Arena Ide.

“There is a risk their faith in the welfare state will be eroded,” she told AFP.

Swedes, who on average pay more than half of their income in tax, see access to healthcare as the most important issue in the September 9 general election, polls suggest.

Prime Minister Stefan Lofven’s Social Democrats, the largest party, are on course for a record low score, after losing voters disgruntled over rising immigration putting a strain on the welfare system to the far-right Sweden Democrats.

‘Lose time’

Swedish law stipulates patients should wait no more than 90 days to undergo surgery or see a specialist. Yet every third patient waits longer, according to government figures.

Patients must also see a general practitioner within seven days, the second-longest deadline in Europe after Portugal (15 days).

Yet waiting times vary dramatically across Sweden’s 21 counties responsible for financing hospitals.

One dental patient in central Dalarna county told AFP six months passed before his check-up, while emergency room queues at Stockholm’s largest hospitals average four hours.

The 2016 nationwide median wait for prostate cancer surgery was 120 days, but 271 days in the northern county of Vasterbotten, official figures show.

Swedes also complain about not being able to see their own regular general practitioner — and the ensuing lack of continuity — as a growing number of doctors and nurses are temporary hires employed by staffing companies.

Some 80 percent of the healthcare sector is in need of nurses, according to official data.

Online services where patients see a doctor via webcam, have mushroomed as a result.

“Every time you seek help you also see a new doctor… This makes us lose time on assessments and follow-ups,” Heidi Stenmyren, president of the Swedish Medical Association, told AFP.

World’s most expensive hospital

In Solleftea, the premier’s northern hometown with nearly 20,000 residents, the only maternity ward was shut down last year to save money.

With the closest maternity ward now 200 kilometres (125 miles) away, midwives offer parents-to-be classes on how to deliver babies in cars — which some have since done.



Sweden has the EU’s third-highest spending on healthcare — 11 percent share of its GDP — and the heart attack survival rate is above the OECD average.

“I get worried sometimes when people disparage Swedish healthcare as if it didn’t work at all… It’s not black or white,” Lofven told Swedish television SVT.

But the number of hospital beds has declined in recent years, as has the average length of stay.

Frustrations peaked this year when it emerged that the bill for Stockholm’s over-budget state-of-the-art New Karolinska Hospital would tick in at 61.4 billion kronor (5.8 billion euros, $6.7 billion) — the most expensive hospital in the world.

And yet patients have had to be transferred to other overcrowded hospitals because some of the facilities are unusable.

Making matters worse, Sweden’s aging population has growing healthcare needs.

“In only five years, we will have 70,000 more people aged 75 or older… and that comes with more frequent illnesses,” Lofven told AFP.

His Social Democrats have vowed to spend three billion kronor to hire more healthcare staff if re-elected.

The opposition Moderates, which governed for two consecutive terms before the Social Democrats took power in 2014, meanwhile want to reintroduce a law that rewards counties for shortening queues.

But critics say this just encourages doctors to prioritize easily-solved cases.  /vvp

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Wall Street edges up, shaking off healthcare, North Korea worries

NEW YORK - The S&P 500 closed slightly higher on Friday even though Apple was a drag, as worries about Washington's latest healthcare legislation proposal eased and investors shrugged off concerns about North Korea.

Investors in the broader market were also encouraged by a jump in the Russell 2000 small-cap index, which ended with a record high close.

After a volatile day the S&P's healthcare sector ended 0.1 percent higher as insurance stocks regained ground after Republican Senator John McCain said he opposed his Republican peers' latest effort to replace President Barack Obama's healthcare law.

The S&P technology sector managed to eke out a small gain as investors had more appetite for risk even with a decline of 1 percent in Apple shares on muted reactions to the iPhone maker's latest product launch.

"The removal of the healthcare overhang, the fact the North Korea market impact is dwindling and the move in the Russell 2000 has all the smart investors thinking that the grind higher continues," said Michael Antonelli, managing director, institutional sales trading at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 9.64 points, or 0.04 percent, to 22,349.59, the S&P 500 gained 1.62 points, or 0.06 percent, to 2,502.22 and the Nasdaq Composite added 4.23 points, or 0.07 percent, to 6,426.92.

Some investors moved to safe-haven assets such as gold, after North Korea said it might test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to destroy the reclusive country.

But others felt that the market would cope with the ongoing stand-off between the countries, which has been ratcheting up in recent months. "If you cry wolf enough it loses its impact in the end," Antonelli said.

Five of the 11 major S&P sectors ended the day lower and utilities led the decliners with a 0.7 percent loss. After falling as much as 0.5 percent, the healthcare sector ended 0.08 percent higher.

Earlier in the day concern about the Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill had wreaked havoc with insurers' stocks. UnitedHealth closed down 1.1 percent after falling as much as 3.6 percent earlier in the day.

The small telecom services index, with only four stocks, was the biggest percentage gainer with a 1.4 percent rise on consolidation speculation while the energy index rose 0.5 percent as oil futures settled higher.

T-Mobile gained 1 percent after Reuters reported that the cellphone network operator was close to agreeing tentative terms on a deal to merge with Sprint, whose shares jumped 6.1 percent.

The report also pushed up bigger rivals Verizon Communications and AT&T Inc, which could benefit from having one less competitor.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.82-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.91-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

About 5.26 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges compared with the 6.03 billion average for the last 20 sessions. — Reuters

Asbestos Exposure in the Military

The most common place where people have experienced asbestos exposure is in the workplace. The work sites with some of the highest rates of asbestos related disease may come as a surprise: the US Armed Forces’ ships and installations around the world. Veterans are more than three times as likely to develop mesothelioma as those who have never served in the military. Mesothelioma is a rare and fatal cancer caused by asbestos exposure.

Asbestos Exposure in the Navy
While members of every branch of the military run a higher risk of asbestos disease than the civilian population, the Navy has the highest rates of asbestos exposure. Members of the Navy and civilians who built and serviced naval vessels worked in an environment awash in deadly asbestos fibers.

Because asbestos is a good heat insulator, US Navy ships built between 1930 and the early 1970s were loaded with the toxic mineral. It was used for insulation in boiler rooms and around piping that ran throughout the ships. Asbestos was also used to construct rooms and entranceways in areas of the ship that might be prone to fire, since it is also resistant to fire.

One of the greatest risk factors for developing mesothelioma, asbestos-caused lung cancer, or other asbestos related disease is a stint working in the boiler room of a Navy ship. In the heat and hustle, it was not uncommon for tiny asbestos fibers to come loose. Floating through the air and invisible to the naked eye, these fibers were easily inhaled and could stick and stay in the lungs.

Because mesothelioma usually takes decades to develop, Navy veterans are still being diagnosed with this and other diseases caused by asbestos exposure that may have occurred forty or more years ago.

Asbestos Exposure in the Army

Starting in the early 1980s, the US Armed Forces stopped using asbestos as an insulator and construction material. The legacy of asbestos lingered on much longer, though, since buildings constructed with asbestos-laden materials continued to be used for many more years. And military vehicles like trucks, cars, and motorcycles used asbestos brakes and other parts.

Veterans of the Marines and Air Force, as well as the Army, may have suffered asbestos exposure while they worked and lived in buildings on military bases that were built with asbestos in ceiling tiles, insulation, or other parts of the structures. In addition, asbestos brake linings were used on military vehicles which may have remained in service for years after the toxic properties of asbestos were understood or the dangers simply ignored. Service members who worked repairing those vehicles may have a special risk of asbestos exposure.

The US Department of Veterans Affairs provides a list of military occupations that are particularly associated with asbestos exposure: “mining, milling, shipyard work, insulation work, demolition of old buildings, carpentry and construction, the manufacturing and installation of products such as flooring, roofing, cement sheet, pipe products, or the servicing of friction products such as clutch facings and brake linings.” Even if you didn’t fill one of these roles, you may have been exposed to asbestos during your military service if you were around others doing those tasks.

Asbestos Exposure in Vietnam and Beyond

One group of veterans who appear to have an elevated chance of asbestos exposure are those who served in Vietnam. During their deployment, military ships, vehicles, and structures would all still have contained asbestos.

One of the times where there is the greatest hazard of asbestos exposure is during removal of asbestos from boiler rooms and infrastructure. Construction workers who engage in this type of work today wear special protective gear. During Vietnam, some soldiers were tasked with ripping out asbestos-laden materials, often without proper protective gear.

The US Department of Veterans Affairs also notes that veterans who served in Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries may have been subjected to asbestos exposure. Although the conflicts in the Middle East happened after the military had stopped building with asbestos, hazardous fibers may have been released when buildings built in previous decades were damaged or destroyed in the fighting.

VA Benefits and Mesothelioma

The Veterans Administration does offer healthcare for veterans suffering from mesothelioma and other diseases caused by asbestos exposure during their military service. If you have an asbestos-related disease due to asbestos exposure in the military, you are eligible to apply for disability benefits through the VA.

In fact, the VA even has special centers at some of its facilities which employ experts in mesothelioma care. Veterans can travel to these centers or receive care remotely from the specialists there.

The good news is that the cost of mesothelioma care at the VA is likely to be lower than if you pursue treatment through private insurance. The VA gives highest priority to veterans with mesothelioma, so you shouldn’t have to wait for care – once you are approved for benefits.

The bad news is that these VA benefits are not always easy to claim for diseases due to asbestos exposure. Because mesothelioma takes so long to manifest, it can be difficult to prove that your asbestos exposure took place during your military service.

Compensation for Veterans

Veterans with mesothelioma or other asbestos diseases have another option to seek compensation for their illness. Like civilians who suffer from the long term consequences of asbestos exposure, veterans have the right to file a lawsuit against the corporations that manufactured or sold the asbestos materials that made them sick.

If you served in the military prior to the late 1990s and you develop mesothelioma or another disease caused by asbestos exposure, you should talk to an experienced asbestos attorney. An asbestos lawyer can guide you through the process of claiming compensation for your illness, pain and suffering, and lost wages. A lawyer can help you protect your rights and receive the compensation you and your family need to insure that you get the best possible healthcare and that your family is taken care of once you are gone.

source: kazanlaw.com

S&P 500, Dow end at record highs, boosted by healthcare

NEW YORK - The Dow and S&P 500 closed at record highs on Tuesday, lifted by further gains in healthcare shares and hopes for a stronger global economy.

The S&P 500 scored its fourth straight day of gains.

Actavis Plc, Gilead Sciences and other biotechs were among the biggest drivers, a day after Allergan agreed to be bought by Actavis. The Nasdaq biotech index rose 2.1 percent.

The S&P health care index added 1.6 percent. Shares of Actavis were up 8.7 percent at $269.60, helped by bullish analyst notes, while Gilead's stock rose 3.3 percent to $103.71 percent.

"A little bit of a risk trade is coming back on, and those are the areas for the M&A," said Uri Landesman, president of Platinum Partners in New York. "It's a very, very good environment to buy growth, so I don't quibble with the notion that there's going to be more M&A."

Among the biggest boosts to the Dow, shares of UnitedHealth were up 1.8 percent at $98.19.

Further supporting stocks, news of a snap election and a delayed tax increase in Japan strengthened hopes for new stimulus, a day after data showed Japan back in recession. In Europe, German analyst and investor sentiment advanced this month for the first time in almost a year.

Benign U.S. inflation data also helped.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 40.07 points, or 0.23 percent, to 17,687.82, a record high. The S&P 500 gained 10.48 points, or 0.51 percent, to 2,051.8, its biggest one-day move since Nov. 5.

The Nasdaq Composite added 31.44 points, or 0.67 percent, to 4,702.44.

Actavis was the S&P's biggest percentage gainer; the largest decliner was Urban Outfitters, down 6.6 percent at $28.79, following results.

On the Nasdaq 100, the largest gainer was Dish Network, up 3.9 percent to $67.85, while the largest decliner was Staples, down 1.6 percent at $12.76.

Among the most active NYSE stocks were Petrobras, up 0.96 percent at $9.42, and General Electric, up 1.50 percent at $27.01. On the Nasdaq, Apple, up 1.3 percent to $115.47, was among the most active.

About 6.1 billion shares traded on U.S. exchanges, below the 6.4 billion average this month, according to BATS Global Markets.

NYSE advancers outnumbered decliners 1,862 to 1,217, for a 1.53-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, 1,645 issues rose and 1,079 fell for a 1.52-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 was posted 77 new 52-week highs and one new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 95 new highs and 56 new lows.  — Reuters

Bayer wins Merck & Co's $14 billion consumer unit auction

Germany's Bayer AG has trumped rival bidders for Merck & Co Inc's consumer care business in a $14.2 billion deal, adding to a string of major cross-border deals in the healthcare industry.

"This acquisition marks a major milestone on our path towards global leadership in the attractive non-prescription medicines business," Bayer's chief executive Marijn Dekkers said in a statement on Tuesday.

Merck said it expects after-tax proceeds of between $8 billion and $9 billion from the sale, which is expected to close in the second half of 2014.

The transaction, the largest in the German healthcare industry since Bayer bought rival Schering in 2006, will make Bayer the second biggest over-the-counter drugs maker after Johnson & Johnson, as it seeks to make better use of its distribution network and sales force.

"We can take these products and market them more forcefully than Merck has been able to do so far," Dekkers said in a conference call with analysts.

Bayer, the inventor of aspirin and maker of Bepanthen skin care products and Canesten antifungal creams, has repeatedly said it wants to overtake J&J in the rankings.

Drug makers have embarked on a major reshuffling of their business portfolios. Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) last month agreed to trade more than $20 billion worth of assets, while AstraZeneca is fighting off a $106 billion takeover approach from Pfizer.

Meanwhile companies including France's Sanofi, Merck & Co and Abbott are looking at selling off mature drugs that have lost patent protection.

OTC drugs units carry far lower margins than prescription drugs businesses but many drug majors regard them as attractive complements due to the stable stream of cash they can generate.

They akso require less spending on research and development and can be less exposed to the loss of patent protection where consumers remain loyal to a brand even when cheap copies become available.

But Reckitt Benckiser Group, one of the final contenders in Merck's auction, said on April 30 it was no longer in active talks to buy the Merck business, leaving Bayer in pole position.

Bayer also edged out other rival bidders, including Procter & Gamble Co, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis and Sanofi , people familiar with the matter have said.

J&J commands about 4 percent of the consumer health market - worth nearly $200 billion at the retail level.

Merck & Co has around 1 percent with brands including Dr Scholl foot care, Coppertone sunscreen and Claritin allergy medicine.

The fragmented OTC industry is consolidating fast. Novartis and GSK will form a joint venture in consumer healthcare as part of their agreement last month.

That deal would have relegated Bayer from second to third place in the global OTC rankings but the Merck deal will put it back on the second rung.

Reuters first reported last month that Bayer and Reckitt had

emerged as frontrunners in the auction with each initially offering roughly $13.5 billion.

In addition, Bayer agreed to sell to Merck some rights to its Adempas drug against high blood pressure in the lung and other experimental cardiovascular drugs, saying it needed a marketing partner.

As part of that alliance, Merck will pay up to $2.1 billion, including $1.1 billion in milestone payments contingent on development achievements.

Bayer said it plans to finance the OTC acquisition with a bridge loan facility provided by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas and Mizuho, which will be syndicated to a larger group of banks.

It added no asset sales were needed to preserve its credit rating of "A-".  — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

White House steps up damage control on healthcare rollout

WASHINGTON - The White House sought to limit the political damage from the troubled rollout of the government's healthcare website as Republicans increased pressure on Wednesday to delay parts of President Barack Obama's signature domestic policy.

Obama administration officials held a closed-door briefing for Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and planned a session with insurance company executives to explain steps they are taking to quickly resolve problems with Healthcare.gov.

Republican critics in Congress demanded a delay in a requirement of the healthcare law that uninsured Americans must purchase insurance or face a tax penalty. They also said they would intensify their investigations into the launch of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, known as "Obamacare."

"It is our job to hold them accountable, and when it comes to Obamacare clearly there is a lot to hold accountable," House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner told reporters.

The chair of the Democratic National Committee, Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, told MSNBC that the administration should be willing to extend the open-enrollment period for people to sign up for insurance.

Online exchanges, or marketplaces, were designed to be the main way for millions of uninsured Americans to find out prices and buy health insurance plans required under the law, but the Oct. 1 debut has been marred by technical glitches that have kept many from signing on and making purchases. Those unable to sign up online can call a toll-free telephone number as an alternative.

The administration has so far declined to disclose the number of enrollments either online or by telephone.

A prolonged delay in getting Healthcare.gov to work could jeopardize White House efforts to sign up as many as 7 million people in 2014, the first full year the law takes effect. The administration on Tuesday began what it has called a "tech surge," bringing in experts led by the administration's top economic aide Jeffrey Zients to analyze and fix the problems.

"I think what we learned is they're working hard to fix the problems," Representative Sander Levin of Michigan, senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, said after Wednesday's briefing.

House Democrats said there was no talk in Wednesday's briefing about whether the problems should lead to a delay of the individual requirement that every American have insurance or pay a tax penalty. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated a delay would reduce enrollment significantly.

REPUBLICANS DEMAND DELAY

Republicans, who oppose the healthcare law on the grounds that it is an unwarranted extension of the federal government, said the requirement should be delayed until the problems with the rollout are resolved.

"With so many unanswered questions and the problems arising around this rollout, it doesn't make any sense to impose this one percent mandate tax on the American people," House Republican Leader Eric Cantor told reporters on Wednesday.

Republicans, who have repeatedly tried to derail or delay the healthcare law since taking control of the House in the 2010 elections, also demanded more answers about the scope of the problems and how many people were signing up for insurance in the federal exchanges.

Despite the announcement of the "tech surge," the administration has not provided details about what caused the problems, what is being done to fix them and who exactly is being brought in for the effort aside from Zients.

"This is not transparency, this is adding to the confusion and the fears surrounding the rollout of Obamacare," Cantor said.

Three committees in the Republican-controlled House have announced investigations of the law's rollout, which Cantor described as "nothing short of a debacle."

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has been the focal point of criticism for the problems and Republicans have demanded she step down, but so far the White House has rallied around her.

Denis McDonough, the White House chief of staff, told the New York Times on Tuesday that Sebelius "has the president's confidence. And she knows that."

In that same article, however, an unidentified White House aide was quoted as saying that Sebelius did not have the "access to the president that she really needs to make a difference" and that while "everybody thinks that she's the driving force" in implementing Obamacare, "unfortunately she's not."

Sebelius, who will testify to Congress next week, will attend the session with insurance company executives, including the chief executives of WellPoint Inc and Humana Inc

WellPoint raised its 2013 membership and profit forecasts in part to reflect coming market changes under the law, its chief executive, Joseph Swedish, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Republican Representative Tim Murphy, chairman of a House and Energy Committee panel that will hold a hearing on the problems on Thursday, said the government had "frittered away" more than $300 million in payments to contractors for a website that does not work.

"Either they didn't know what was going on in their own offices, or they were deliberately misleading us and the American people," Murphy said.  — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com