The partial government shutdown had no impact on the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act, which got underway today. In California, state government is committed to making it work, and many of the uninsured are hungry for details. Who's eligible for coverage and subsidies? How much will policies cost? Are insurance companies limiting the available doctors and hospitals? It's expected that the elderly and the sick will be the first to enroll, but the young and the healthy will be crucial. We hear about the first day on a crowded website and on the call center where we spent 45 minutes on hold this morning.
On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, on this first day of a partial government shutdown, Republicans and Democrats were showing no sign of ending the stalemate. We hear from leaders of both parties on Capitol Hill—and from the President, who blamed Republicans for trying to overturn last year's election with a futile effort to stop or delay Obamacare.