The Pledge on Keeping Your Insurance: Obama Didn't Lie to People. The Insurance Companies Did!

[Triana]

President Obama has been getting a lot of grief in the last few weeks over his pledge that with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in place, people would be able to keep their insurance if they like it. The media have been filled with stories about people across the country who are having their insurance policies terminated, ostensibly because they did not meet the requirements of the ACA. While this has led many to say that Obama was lying, there is much less here than meets the eye.

First, it is important to note that the ACA grand-fathered all the individual policies that were in place at the time the law was enacted. This means that the plans in effect at the time that President Obama was pushing the bill could still be offered even if they did not meet all the standards laid out in the ACA.

The plans being terminated because they don't meet the minimal standards were all plans that insurers introduced after the passage of the ACA. Insurers introduced these plans knowing that they would not meet the standards that would come into effect in 2014. Insurers may not have informed their clients at the time they sold these plans that they would not be available after 2014 because they had designed a plan that did not comply with the ACA.

However if the insurers didn't tell their clients that the new plans would only be available for a short period of time, the blame would seem to rest with the insurance companies, not the ACA. After all, President Obama did not promise people that he would keep insurers from developing new plans that will not comply with the provisions of the ACA.

THE REST OF THE STORY:
http://www.nationofchange.org/obama-pledge-keeping-your-insurance-1384440437

(Ohhhh but an insurance company SURELY wouldn't lie to people, would it? Naawwwww.... )

[gcomeau]

1. Wish more people would take the time to understand this...

...getting really tired of explaining it over and over and over and over to people who should damn well know better.

[global1]

2. Then Why Don't They Say That?.....

The Repugs put out the talking point that the President lied and the MSM took up the charge and went with it and reported it over and over until it's engrained in the minds of Americans that the President lied.

Why wasn't this explained right from the start that it was the insurance companies that were being deceptive on this and let the blame fall on them?

Why did the Dems and the Administration let the Repugs and the MSM plant this seed instead of nipping it in the bud right at the beginning?

This is another one of those things I just don't get. This complete controversy could have been avoided - but instead we have the mire that we have to deal with now. Go figure.

[Whisp]

4. It's been explained here lots of times.

and people still don't fucking listen. They want their drama and they want it any way they can get it - regardless of anything else.

and you expect Rachel or ScarFace or Blitz to do it better? more convincing?

And there is no mire to deal with other than the Repuglican normal run of the mill mire.
And in the imaginary minds of 'progressives' *ahem, cough - 'Obama is a Loser' land occupants.

[global1]

5. It Might Have Been Explained Here Lots Of Times - But This Is Preaching To The Choir.....

from the moment the talking point that the President lied was launched the WH and the Dems should have went on the offensive and say no we didn't lie - here is the real story - it is the insurance companies that are being deceptive.

This talking point of the President lying - was left to fester and this is why the President is in the fix he's in today on this.

This could have been nipped in the bud.

I think the explanation of what the insurance companies were up to was simple enough for the majority of Americans to understand.

Now they're saying that the President is untrustworthy. And the deception goes on.

[Whisp]

7. some of the Choir here is from another church.

what I mean if we can't even convince so called democrats and progs Here that this is just another bullshit media/pug lie non story scandal...

sometimes I am amazed that the wheel was ever invented - esp. if it took place in this kind of climate.

The lies are so big and bold, and some 'democrats' fall for them, Every Single Time. You gotta start asking yourself questions after a while about why this is, and for what reasons they do this.

[russspeakeasy]

3. Thank you for this post.

[SpartanDem]

6. That's not how the President explained it

the President didn't say "if you like the like the plan you have as of 2010 you can keep it". There were multiple ways for White House to have handled this, first they could have been clearer about exactly what plans could have stayed. They could gone after insurance companies publicly in the lead up for selling non compliant plans. Instead they sat on their hands knowing this was going to happen, seemingly hoping people not would not notice and they compounded their problems with the website issues. The fact is a lot of people bought plans after the ACA's passage thinking "if you like your plan, you can keep it" meant they could keep it after 2014. IMO the vast majority of blame for the bad PR lies with the WH, because heading this off would've been simple.

[dreamnightwind]

8. Also modified plans?

I haven't been on top of this particular issue so if I'm mistaken, please correct, but...

What I thought I heard (from Obama himself in one of his recent speeches?) was that it wasn't just individual non-compliant plans introduced since the passage of the ACA that were terminated, but also any individual non-compliant plans that had been MODIFIED (I would assume this means modified in any way) since passage of the ACA, and that these modified plans could have been written prior to passage of the act, so long as they had been modified after passage.

This is more of a query than a fact. I should research it but don't have the time right now. Anyone know?

[Katashi_itto]

9. You should hear NPR. They are flat out spinning it that the President lied.

[Triana]

10. NPR has gone to shit

I quit donating to them years ago. I wish I could say I'm surprised but I'm not.

[deaniac21]

11. That's

the ticket.

[Number23]

12. Oh my God...

The plans being terminated because they don't meet the minimal standards were all plans that insurers introduced after the passage of the ACA.

Wow. Holy Crap. Wow.

I am truly shocked this hasn't been reported in the larger media.