Panel: Fixes to Obamacare Stalled in Divided Congress

A top federal health official in New Jersey said on Thursday that there was only so much she could do to improve upon the Affordable Care Act without the help of Congress.

Jackie Cornell-Bechelli, the regional director of the Department of Health and Human Services, told a crowd at New Jersey Performing Arts Center that regulatory fixes only go so far.

"It is an interesting bind to be in when you see the problem, everyone agrees the problem needs to be fixed, there are solutions but the body that has that power doesn't want to move towards that solution," she said.

She was joined by Heather Howard, the director of the State Health Reform Assistance Network, Wardell Sanders, president of the New Jersey Association of Health Plans and Darrell Terry, the president and CEO of Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. They participated in a live event held at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center co-produced by WNYC and NJPAC. 

Earlier in the evening, WNYC Host Brian Lehrer asked Rep. Frank Pallone, a Democrat from central New Jersey, if there were there things Congress could do to lower costs for people covered by Obamacare or any other health insurance plan.

"The bottom line is any time we talk about changes in the Affordable Care Act which of course were envisioned, that we would go back and look and make changes from time to time, the Republicans say 'oh, we should just repeal it.' So, you'd have to have a Democratic Congress and a Democratic president to achieve that," Pallone said.

Howard pointed out that the news is not all grim. In New Jersey, over 700,000 people have health insurance who didn't before the ACA became law.

To hear the full discussion from the July 14 event, which also included Rep. Donald Payne Jr., a Democrat from the Newark area, and questions from the audience, click on the play button.