Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) introduced H.R. 3338, the Fairness in Failed Federal Exchange Act, this week, which would exempt citizens from the individual mandate penalty of the Affordable Care Act.
“The American people…should not be penalized because the White House can’t build a functioning website,” Ellmers said. “That’s why today I have introduced legislation that will provide a way out of this mess…The Fairness in Failed Federal Exchange Act will exempt people from the individual mandate penalty and protect them from facing unjust fines and penalties.”
President Obama announced a six week delay this week for the Obamacare exchange’s individual mandate that extends the enrollment deadline to March 31 without penalty.
According to some reports, as many as 47 states have faced frequent error messages on the HealthCare.gov site, which have been attributed to inadequate server capacity, poor software coding and system architecture failure.
The Fairness in Failed Federal Exchanges Act would exempt citizens from the individual mandate penalty if they go without health care coverage for one month in 2014 or in a subsequent year or if an individual executes an attestation that he or she has been unable to enroll in the exchange.