As the news of insurance cancellation notices continues to grab headlines, the White House and supporters have tried to pretend that President Obama never promised that Americans could keep their existing health plans. The president himself has suddenly claimed that he told people there would be exceptions to his promise — too bad that he didn’t tell people there would be exceptions. And the president kept making that promise even after his own Department of Health and Human Services published predictions in the Federal Register acknowledging that as many as 10 million Americans will have their existing coverage cancelled.
President Obama brought his promise to Maryland on Sept. 26 in a speech meant to tout the soon to launch healthcare.gov Web site. In the speech, he repeated the claim that people could keep their existing insurance. What makes this speech different is that he made specific reference to the individual market.
“Now, let’s start with the fact that even before the Affordable Care Act fully takes effect, about 85 percent of Americans already have health insurance -– either through their job, or through Medicare, or through the individual market. So if you’re one of these folks, it’s reasonable that you might worry whether health care reform is going to create changes that are a problem for you — especially when you’re bombarded with all sorts of fear-mongering.
“So the first thing you need to know is this: If you already have health care, you don’t have to do anything. In fact, for the past few years, since I signed the Affordable Care Act, a lot of you have been enjoying new benefits and protections that you didn’t before even if you didn’t know they were coming from Obamacare.”
[Continue reading Todd Eberly’s post at the Free Stater Blog.]
Todd Eberly blogs at The FreeStaterBlog. The Local Blog Network is a group of bloggers from around the D.C. region who have agreed to make regular contributions to All Opinions Are Local.
