In summary, what follows is nothing more than a huge "You Lie!" to this President:
President Obama repeatedly assured Americans that after the Affordable Care Act became law, people who liked their health insurance would be able to keep it. But millions of Americans are getting or are about to get cancellation letters for their health insurance under Obamacare, say experts, and the Obama administration has known that for at least three years.
Four sources deeply involved in the Affordable Care Act tell NBC NEWS that 50 to 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy their insurance individually can expect to receive a “cancellation” letter or the equivalent over the next year because their existing policies don’t meet the standards mandated by the new health care law. One expert predicts that number could reach as high as 80 percent. And all say that many of those forced to buy pricier new policies will experience “sticker shock.”
None of this should come as a shock to the Obama administration. The law states that policies in effect as of March 23, 2010 will be “grandfathered,” meaning consumers can keep those policies even though they don’t meet requirements of the new health care law. But the Department of Health and Human Services then wrote regulations that narrowed that provision, by saying that if any part of a policy was significantly changed since that date -- the deductible, co-pay, or benefits, for example -- the policy would not be grandfathered.
Buried in Obamacare regulations from July 2010 is an estimate that because of normal turnover in the individual insurance market, “40 to 67 percent” of customers will not be able to keep their policy. And because many policies will have been changed since the key date, “the percentage of individual market policies losing grandfather status in a given year exceeds the 40 to 67 percent range.”
That means the administration knew that more than 40 to 67 percent of those in the individual market would not be able to keep their plans, even if they liked them.
Yet President Obama, who had promised in 2009, “if you like your health plan, you will be able to keep
your health plan,” was still saying in 2012, “If [you] already have health insurance, you will keep your health insurance.”
“This says that when they made the promise, they knew half the people in this market outright couldn’t keep what they had and then they wrote the rules so that others couldn’t make it either,” said Robert Laszewski, of Health Policy and Strategy Associates, a consultant who works for health industry firms. Laszewski estimates that 80 percent of those in the individual market will not be able to keep their current policies and will have to buy insurance that meets requirements of the new law, which generally requires a richer package of benefits than most policies today.
your health plan,” was still saying in 2012, “If [you] already have health insurance, you will keep your health insurance.”Read the rest.
This is huge frankly. A media outlet known to do nothing but hold this President's water has just dumped the bucket on his head.
It's a hopeful sign.
Might we see more.
One more thing while I hold your attention.
This status on Facebook from a friend's friend speaks volumes to me:
Here's the thing: at what point for even a die-hard supporter of Obama does the excuse that he "didn't know" cease to be comforting and begin to be troubling?
NSA shenanigans involving heads of state throughout the world? Didn't know. Syria gas attack? Didn't know. Benghazi? Didn't know. Bad Obamacare website? Didn't ...know.
What exactly is he actually involved in? I don't know about you, but I work at least 40 hours a week. From what I can tell this guy spends on average giving speeches for about an hour and s half each week. And you know he can't be credited the time for actually writing them. So what the hell is the greatest champion of the Imperial Presidency in decades actually doing with all that power and centrality?
In the case of the central issue of this post, the President knew. He knew for some time all while getting out in front of the American people and lying to them about it.
Joe Wilson has been vindicated.
But many of us knew this long ago.
Welcome to reality NBC News.
