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The Affordable Care Act’s Health Insurance Exchanges have been online for just over a month and already President Obama has been on the defensive, admitting that major problems have hampered the web portal healthcare.gov, while making the case to the public that the law is in fact beneficial to the nation.

Speaking to Sunday talk shows, senior White House adviser, Dan Pfeiffer, said “The website failures are absolutely inexcusable, and we own that.”

At a recent Congressional hearing, Health and Human Services Department head Kathleen Sebelius also took responsibility for the technical failures of the government site. More hearings have been called for.

Major aspects of the law have improved access to care – such as young people being able to stay longer on their parents’ plans, and the elimination of pre-existing conditions as an excuse to deny coverage or price it higher. Still, some middle income Americans have complained of losing their employer provided plans, only to find that comparable plans on healthcare.gov are more expensive.

The Affordable Care Act requires all Americans to get health insurance or pay a penalty. It does provide substantial subsidies to most but not all those who cannot afford coverage. The deadline to enroll is March 31, 2014.

GUEST: Margaret Flowers, co-host with Kevin Zeese of ClearingtheFOGRadio.org and co-director of It’s Our Economy. Flowers is former congressional fellow for Physicians for a National Health Program and is on the board of Healthcare-Now.

Visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org for more information.