Obamacare is a Looming Train Wreck

To the Editor:
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation grilled the director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, Gary Cohen, on Sept. 19. At least, the Republicans grilled Cohen but the Democrats praised him and spent their time scolding the Republican members of the committee.
The topic was Obamacare navigators. They are the people being hired by the Obama administration to fan out around the country to help people sign up for Obamacare exchanges. Discussions got heated more than a few times during the hearing. Director Cohen either refused to answer questions or said he did not know or was not aware of to many questions posed to him by Republicans.
The roll out of Obamacare navigators is very confusing and is rather frightening. The navigators are ill trained (20 hours of training) and are mostly recruited from left wing liberal groups and are not subject to criminal background checks by the federal government. So if a guy/girl just got out of prison for counterfeiting and I.D. theft, he/she can get a job as a navigator. And that is dangerous to Americans, as he/she will have access to very personal health and financial information. Like putting the fox in the hen house to count the eggs.
Director Cohen said that while there was no requirement by the federal government to do criminal background checks on prospective navigators. Each state can do criminal background checks during the initial interview of navigators. The only problem with that is lawmakers fear that states with democratic governors will follow the federal government’s lead and not require background checks. Therein lies the danger.
It would seem that the navigator program is ill conceived as is the Affordable Care Act and will be terrible for the American people. I wonder what would happen to someone who refused to allow the navigator into their home or don’t want to sign up? Maybe prison or labor camp?
The subcommittee brought out one other contradiction and that was when Director Cohen told the committee that navigators are forbidden from going to door-to-door in neighborhoods to try and sign people up for the exchanges. However, in the training manual, it clearly stated that they would be required to go door-to-door. Director Cohen stuttered and muttered and adopted a confrontational attitude and never really addressed the contradiction.
The roll out of Obamacare is a looming train wreck; some of the cars have already derailed. This is a very vivid example of what President Obama meant when he said, “Elections have consequences.” The consequences have only just begun.