If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.
Title is from Obama's speech in August 2009.
Pants on Fire.
From the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (a progressive-biased newspaper):
'If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan'
PolitiFact gave that infamous claim by President Obama a "Half True" rating all the way back in August 2009. Looks like it's officially time for a change to "Pants on Fire," or maybe even a retroactive award for the fact checkers' "Lie of the Year." From NBC News:"Health plans are sending hundreds of thousands of cancellation letters to people who buy their own coverage, frustrating some consumers who want to keep what they have and forcing others to buy more costly policies.
"The main reason insurers offer is that the policies fall short of what the Affordable Care Act requires starting Jan. 1. Most are ending policies sold after the law passed in March 2010. At least a few are canceling plans sold to people with pre-existing medical conditions."
Want more? Here is the website for
Kaiser Health News:
Thousands Of Consumers Get Insurance Cancellation Notices Due To Health Law Changes
Health plans are sending hundreds of thousands of cancellation letters to people who buy their own coverage, frustrating some consumers who want to keep what they have and forcing others to buy more costly policies.
The main reason insurers offer is that the policies fall short of what the Affordable Care Act requires starting Jan. 1. Most are ending policies sold after the law passed in March 2010. At least a few are cancelling plans sold to people with pre-existing medical conditions.
By all accounts, the new policies will offer consumers better coverage, in some cases, for comparable cost -- especially after the inclusion of federal subsidies for those who qualify. The law requires policies sold in the individual market to cover 10 �essential� benefits, such as prescription drugs, mental health treatment and maternity care. In addition, insurers cannot reject people with medical problems or charge them higher prices. The policies must also cap consumers� annual expenses at levels lower than many plans sold before the new rules.
But the cancellation notices, which began arriving in August, have shocked many consumers in light of President Barack Obama�s promise that people could keep their plans if they liked them.
�I don�t feel like I need to change, but I have to,� said Jeff Learned, a television editor in Los Angeles, who must find a new plan for his teenage daughter, who has a health condition that has required multiple surgeries.
An estimated 14 million people purchase their own coverage because they don�t get it through their jobs. Calls to insurers in several states showed that many have sent notices.
Florida Blue, for example, is terminating about 300,000 policies, about 80 percent of its individual policies in the state. Kaiser Permanente in California has sent notices to 160,000 people � about half of its individual business in the state. Insurer Highmark in Pittsburgh is dropping about 20 percent of its individual market customers, while Independence Blue Cross, the major insurer in Philadelphia, is dropping about 45 percent.
Emphasis mine in the last paragraph. Kaiser Health News bills itself as an independent news organization not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente. I bet they get their news from the horses mouth as it were. Close to the source.
This is turning out to be worse than anyone could imagine. I looked at my options and I would go from a $1K deductible to a $5K deductible and would have to pay about $200 more per month for Lulu and me than the policy I have in place now. My co-pays are $40 which is hurting a bit with the weekly physical therapy visits but it beats the alternative...
Posted by DaveH at October 22, 2013 9:07 PM