the metropolitan. we have some of the highest uninsured in the country. it s important to me and our constituents to get it right, and that s why i share the disappointment the website is not working as planned. november 30 is not soon enough we had me and my constituents have been waiting for years to purchase health insurance and we owe it to them to get the marketplace is up and running. the contractors have not served our country well and should fix it and not have to pay. now we re hearing about the cancellation being sent by insurance companies notify them of their plans no longer offered. for these americans losing their health care coverage because of the affordable care act or is it because these plans were changed at the enactment of the act? sebelius: i would say it is the latter, sir. if the plan was in place, no one would have received the cancellation. if somebody had an insurance plan before the act, the
being solved. but we know we don t have a fully functioning system that consumers need and deserve. we re still at the beginning of a six-month open enrollment which extends through the end of march and there is plenty of time to sign up. just to put it in perspective the average open enrollment for an insurance plan is two to four weeks. the new marketplace has a 26-week open enrollment and those who enroll by december 15th will be able to access benefits on day one. even with the unacceptable problems with health care dot-gov which we re committed to fixing the affordable care act by any fair measure is working for millions of americans who are benefiting from new health security, young adults americans living with preexisting health condition, seniors on medicare. 85% of americans who already have health coverage are protected with new rights an benefits. the 15% of our neighbors an friend who are uninsured have a
affordable care act, just like with medicare part-d, the launch of the new website has not gone well, but just like medicare part-d, the early glitches in this rollout will soon be forgotten. a lot of the discussion today will focus on that website. this is an important issue and i want to learn what the secretary can tell us about the problems being experienced and how they will be fixed, but we should keep this issue in perspective. the affordable care act is working. it has been improving the health, security of millions of americans for the past three years. because of the affordable care act, more than seven million people on medicare have saved more than $8 billion on their prescription drugs. more than 100 million americans have access to free preventative
sebelius: that is correct. having been a state legislature and as governor in kansas, i m sure every state has minimum mandated benefits they have to have with their health plan. sebelius: they do. it applies again, sir, to the group market where 90% of covered americans get their policies. this market has always been the wild west. americans received those letters about cancellations. they are eligible to purchase plans on exchange? sebelius: or out of the exchange. they can go outside the exchange, inside the exchange. their insurers can offer them plans. they have choices they v it nevd before. 80% of their premium dollars will come back. >sebelius: that s true. note is not in texas, but i don t know any state that has 80% requirement. sebelius: no state has it, i would suggest, not broad base
coverage. and no longer face lifetime limits on their coverage. over 10 million americans have received rebates from insurance companies. and finally, this january, the worst abuses of insurance industry will be halted. never again will a family be denied coverage because their child has a chronic health condition. never again will individuals see their premiums shoot up because they got sick or faced an unexpected medical expense. never again will a woman have to pay twice as much as a man for the same insurance. that is why allowing insurers to continue offering deficient plans next year is such a bad policy. the law says that all plans, except those that were