WASHINGTON -– Two Senate Democrats have put forward separate plans that would push back enforcement of some of the Affordable Care Act's provisions while the Obama administration addresses what they see as problems with the law.


Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) renewed his call for a one-year delay on the law's individual mandate, which requires most Americans to obtain insurance, in an appearance on ABC's "This Week." "Nobody should be forced to buy a policy that costs more than what they had and is inferior to what they had," Manchin said. "Those things have to be worked out."


Manchin announced on Wednesday that he was joining a Republican effort to delay the mandate. He has suggested that the penalty for not having health insurance should not go into effect until January 2015.


"The new markets that are opening up basically is going to be good, but it has to be affordable. You have to work through this," Manchin said. "The transition period of one year is very reasonable and doable."


Manchin said he has no indication of whether the White House might accept his proposal for a delay. "I'm not sure," he said. "I haven't spoken in detail with them."


So far, Manchin is the only Senate Democrat to endorse the Republicans' calls for a delay on the individual mandate. But a number of other Democrats have called for an extension of the open enrollment deadline due to problems with the rollout of Healthcare.gov, the federal website that allows people to compare and purchase insurance plans.


Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) authored a letter to the White House, which 10 Democrats have signed, calling for the March 31 deadline to be extended.


"We're hearing from lots of constituents in New Hampshire that they want to enroll in health insurance, that they can't because of the problems with the website," Shaheen said on CBS' "Face The Nation" Sunday. "The rollout has been a disaster. And so what I'm proposing is that we extend the period in which people can enroll, so we can make sure we get as many people who want health insurance able to enroll and be able to be covered."


The Obama administration has said that the problems with the website will be fixed in time for people to purchase insurance before March 31.


"My goal is to fix the Affordable Care Act, to make sure people can get that access to health care," Shaheen said. "Unlike a lot of the proposals that we've seen from people whose goal is to repeal it, to make sure it doesn't work, I want it to work."



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  • 1912


    Former President Theodore Roosevelt champions national health insurance as he unsuccessfully tries to ride his progressive Bull Moose Party back to the White House. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)




  • 1935


    President Franklin D. Roosevelt favors creating national health insurance amid the Great Depression but decides to push for Social Security first. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)




  • 1942


    Roosevelt establishes wage and price controls during World War II. Businesses can't attract workers with higher pay so they compete through added benefits, including health insurance, which grows into a workplace perk. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)




  • 1945


    President Harry Truman calls on Congress to create a national insurance program for those who pay voluntary fees. The American Medical Association denounces the idea as "socialized medicine" and it goes nowhere. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)




  • 1960


    John F. Kennedy makes health care a major campaign issue but as president can't get a plan for the elderly through Congress. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)




  • 1965


    President Lyndon B. Johnson's legendary arm-twisting and a Congress dominated by his fellow Democrats lead to creation of two landmark government health programs: Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images)




  • 1974


    President Richard Nixon wants to require employers to cover their workers and create federal subsidies to help everyone else buy private insurance. The Watergate scandal intervenes. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)




  • 1976


    President Jimmy Carter pushes a mandatory national health plan, but economic recession helps push it aside. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)




  • 1986


    President Ronald Reagan signs COBRA, a requirement that employers let former workers stay on the company health plan for 18 months after leaving a job, with workers bearing the cost. (MIKE SARGENT/AFP/Getty Images)




  • 1988


    Congress expands Medicare by adding a prescription drug benefit and catastrophic care coverage. It doesn't last long. Barraged by protests from older Americans upset about paying a tax to finance the additional coverage, Congress repeals the law the next year. (TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images)




  • 1993


    President Bill Clinton puts first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in charge of developing what becomes a 1,300-page plan for universal coverage. It requires businesses to cover their workers and mandates that everyone have health insurance. The plan meets Republican opposition, divides Democrats and comes under a firestorm of lobbying from businesses and the health care industry. It dies in the Senate. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)




  • 1997


    Clinton signs bipartisan legislation creating a state-federal program to provide coverage for millions of children in families of modest means whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid. (JAMAL A. WILSON/AFP/Getty Images)




  • 2003


    President George W. Bush persuades Congress to add prescription drug coverage to Medicare in a major expansion of the program for older people. (STEPHEN JAFFE/AFP/Getty Images)




  • 2008


    Hillary Rodham Clinton promotes a sweeping health care plan in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. She loses to Obama, who has a less comprehensive plan. (PAUL RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)




  • 2009


    President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress spend an intense year ironing out legislation to require most companies to cover their workers; mandate that everyone have coverage or pay a fine; require insurance companies to accept all comers, regardless of any pre-existing conditions; and assist people who can't afford insurance. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)




  • 2010


    With no Republican support, Congress passes the measure, designed to extend health care coverage to more than 30 million uninsured people. Republican opponents scorned the law as "Obamacare." (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)




  • 2012


    On a campaign tour in the Midwest, Obama himself embraces the term "Obamacare" and says the law shows "I do care." (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)