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Obamacare fix met with skepticism, Republican heckling

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President Obama sought Thursday to quell some of the anger sparked by the troubled rollout of health insurance exchanges as part of his signature domestic program, the Affordable Care Act.

A plan announced by the president would allow Americans to keep their current healthcare plans for another year, in hopes of preventing the plan cancellations that have taken place across the country.

But ultimately, Obama couldn’t promise that everything wrong with the federal website used to sign up for the exchanges would be fixed by the self-imposed Nov. 30 deadline.

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“It is not possible for me to guarantee that 100% of the people 100% of the time will have a perfectly seamless and smooth experience,” he said.

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Though he spoke at length about his responsibility for the problems, and his vision for moving forward, many weren’t ready to forgive him for the rocky debut.

Some watched Obama on TV and saw a diminished president losing the reins of his own landmark legislation.

We may have just entered the post-Obama era. Willingness of Dems to criticize while conference still going - amazing.— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) November 14, 2013

This feels more like a session w/a shrink than a press conference— Robin Abcarian (@robinabcarian) November 14, 2013

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Take Obama out equation: Imagine a prez’s plan disrupts vitally imp industry to voters, & then he says he thought wld unfold differently.— David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) November 14, 2013

Republicans were quick to take a victory lap as Obama shifted between apology and self-reflection, while America’s Health Insurance Plans, a health insurance trade association, was quick to voice its concerns about Obama’s proposal.

The President promised if you liked your plan, you could keep it. We now know that wasn’t true. Time for #FullRepeal https://t.co/baAxGJEd2V— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) November 14, 2013

POTUS said they need ‘focus groups’ to study #Obamacare site. Congress has access to 435 “focus groups” called districts, come talk to us.— Doug Collins (@RepDougCollins) November 14, 2013

So many TVs in congressional Democrats’ offices have had things thrown at them in the last 45 minuts.— Brendan Buck (@BrendanBuck) November 14, 2013

Area President complains about federal bureaucracy making it more difficult for federal government to take over nation’s health care system.— Rory Cooper (@rorycooper) November 14, 2013

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Health plans have already implemented ACA requirements. Today’s announcement changes the rules. https://t.co/CiRLtst7R5— AHIP Coverage (@AHIPCoverage) November 14, 2013

Democrats, meantime, ranged between loyalty to the president and indications that they’d be willing to look to alternative solutions.

Unlike Republicans, President Obama and Democrats are committed to making #Obamacare work for all Americans that want health care.— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) November 14, 2013

I’m encouraged the President took action to stop cancellations but will continue to work on legislation to fix this permanently— Senator Landrieu (@SenLandrieu) November 14, 2013

Manchin “thinks its a positive step in the right direction. Still supportive of his bill with Landrieu because it’s a permanent fix” - spox— Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) November 14, 2013

@SenatorShaheen : Obama ACA announcement ‘step in the right direction’ but still need to extend sign-up period; #NHSen #nhpolitics— John DiStaso (@jdistaso) November 14, 2013

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Dem Sen. MERKLEY says Obama plan doesn’t go far enough because only extends for a year. Still, “a step in the right direction,” he says.— Caitlin Huey-Burns (@CHueyBurnsRCP) November 14, 2013

Scoop: 2014 sen dem kay hagan just told @tedbarrettcnn she still wants landrieu legislation bc its permanent fix, not 1 year— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) November 14, 2013

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