NEW YORK — As the United States Senate begins the process of dismantling Obamacare, the fact is the American public has not been made aware of what the replacement is going to be.
Many are skeptical.
One of those is Jason Samel, a small business owner who makes his living off a system he says has imperfections, “There are few brokers if any out there left specializing in Obamacare. I’m even getting calls from brokers to sell me their book of business because they want out.”
Samel is the founder of New York ObamaCare.com. On Thursday he touted his Glen Cove based business to PIX11 News as the largest individual Obamacare broker in New York State.
His primary objective?
“I consult people with having to do with the affordable care act. I help them enroll in plans, figure out what plans are going to be best for them, individuals families as well as small businesses.”
However, now as the the historic as well controversial Affordable Care Act that goes by the name, ACA or Obamacare, finds itself in the early stages of being overhauled in the United States Senate, Samel says the demise of the plan, which he admits is not perfect, has been on everyone’s radar for months, “If you’re a woman in second trimester you should be extremely concerned.”
For those that are not expecting, who are searching to sign up for insurance — Samel estimates he has received over 1,000 calls in the last month with all of them ending the same way, “Ok now that we got this plan. What the heck is about to happen to all of this.”
On Wednesday President-Elect Donald Trump said the plan in all likelihood will be repealed and replaced simultaneously potentially on the same day and even the same hour.
Then Thursday afternoon Trump tweeted, “Congrats to the Senate for taking the first step to #RepealObamaCare now it’s onto the house.”
However, Samel says that Obamacare is too big to deeply entrenched in the economy to simply blow it up overnight, “We’re screwed, it’s impossible to do it quickly. It has to be done methodically.”
The reason?
“It touches too many things. It took years to put it together, it is going to take years to take apart.”
One interesting note, the federal law also has ties to Jared Kushner, President Elect Trump’s Senior Adviser and son-in-law.
Kushner’s brother — Josh — is a founder of Oscar Health.
The $2-billion dollar company is one of New York State’s largest individual sellers of health insurance plans tied to Obamacare.
