Crash-prone ObamaCare site also includes voter registration option

By ,

Published December 20, 2015

FILE: UNDATE: A frame-grab on the heathcare.gov website. (MacIver Institute)

The federal website that enrolls Americans in ObamaCare also asks applicants if they want to register to vote, raising questions about why the Obama administration would further complicate an already crash-prone website.

Thirty six states are using the federal site – also called exchanges or market places -- to enroll customers in government-mandated health insurance.

At least four other states -- California, Connecticut, New York, Vermont and Wisconsin -- also are asking or intend to ask customers if they want to register to vote.

“The [website] launch has not gone well,” Nick Novak, a spokesman for the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, which noticed the voter-registration question on the Wisconsin site, told FoxNews.com on Monday. “Why are they cluttering up the site?”

Novak, who has unsuccessfully tried numerous times over the past week to click through the site, also argues officials should have at least posed the question after customers sign up for insurance.

However, government officials have defended putting the question on the exchanges, citing federal law.

Brian Cook, a spokesman for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in August the exchanges must include the question, under the 1993 National Voter Registration Act. The law requires states to offer voter registration at government offices that provide public assistance.

Brett Healy, president of the Wisconsin-based MacIver Institute, suggests that including the question could backfire on Democrats.

"The president should be careful what he wishes for,” he said. "While he counted on young people to win the presidency, many are now experiencing ObamaCare sticker shock."

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/crash-prone-obamacare-site-also-includes-voter-registration-option