The media has focused a laser on the 3% of the population who are individual policy holders and are losing their junk insurance because it barely provides the minimum in coverage to qualify as "insurance". And Democrats up for election in 2014 vented their frustrations in a meeting with President Obama. So now President Obama has stepped out and personally apologized for people experiencing problems in an interview with NBC.
President Obama said Thursday that he is "sorry" that some Americans are losing their current health insurance plans as a result of the Affordable Care Act, despite his promise that no one would have to give up a health plan they liked.
"I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me," he told NBC News in an exclusive interview at the White House.
"We've got to work hard to make sure that they know we hear them and we are going to do everything we can to deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of this."
“Obviously we didn’t do a good enough job in terms of how we crafted the law," Obama said in the interview Thursday. "And, you know, that’s something I regret. That’s something we’re gonna do everything we can to get fixed ... We’re looking at a range of options.”
House Speaker John Boehner responded to the president’s comments Thursday, saying, “an apology is certainly in order, but what Americans want to hear is that the president is going to keep his promise.”
Pointing to a scheduled House vote next week on a measure that would allow insurance companies to continue policies that don’t meet the ACA's standards, Boehner added, “if the president is sincerely sorry that he misled the American people, the very least he can do is support this bipartisan effort. Otherwise, this apology doesn't amount to anything."
I don't believe any apology is in order (other than perhaps for the glitches with the website which are mostly fixed now. And the obsession with picking apart the statement that 'you can keep your insurance if you like it' is willful misdirection as everyone knows this was meant that the Government would not take away your insurance. Which it isn't. The insurance companies are.
I don't know what President Obama has in mind to fix the problems of people losing junk coverage. There have already been several proposals to amend the law to enable people to keep their insurance past the original 'grandfather' period. While this seemed like a kneejerk response at first, the more I think about it, the more attractive it sounds. It would only pertain to 3% of the population so it wouldn't likely be enough to make the numbers unworkable. And there is a lot of control in the law forcing insurance companies to do the right thing. Since there are now alternatives on the exchanges, - why not let insurance companies continue their weasel ways and let them cancel people's insurance for any little reason , or for preexisting conditions, or jack up the premium by multiples of hundreds of percent at will. If people have an alternative they can tell those companies to take a hike with their increases and shop for a better plan. Maybe the stringent coverage requirements can be phased in more slowly to give peoople time to adjust. But this way, it will be obvious ho the true villains are: the insurance companies, not Obamacare.