Angle: More Health Plans To Be Canceled Under Obamacare
BRET BAIER: Obamacare customers could be getting something very unpleasant in the mail shortly, chief national correspondent Jim Angle reports. Critics say it’s another sign of just how wrong President Obama was when he made his big pitch for the law.
JIM ANGLE: President Obama unequivocally promised that under Obamacare everyone can keep their doctors and their plans, period, a pledge later dubbed the lie of the year by a nonpartisan group, a promise he made 37 times.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: No one will take it away, no matter what.
ANGLE: Mr. Obama was forced to admit that was not true, that any plan without the additional benefits required under Obamacare faced cancellation. But that unleashed a nasty political backlash, forcing him to back down, calling for states and insurers to extend those policies for three more years. Some say he didn’t have much choice.
JOSEPH ANTOS, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: There were some five or six million people who were at stake here, and the federal exchange was in no condition to even process a few hundred thousand people, much less millions.
ANGLE: Many states flatly refused to extend at all. This year, another 13, along with the District of Columbia, will also cancel.
JAMES CAPRETTA, ETHICS & PUBLIC POLICY CENTER: It looks like several hundred thousand people across the country will receive notices in the coming days and weeks.
ANGLE: Virginia will be hardest hit, with 250,000 policies to be canceled, in spite of a pledge from the Democratic senator running for re-election.
SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): I’m not going to support a health care reform plan that’s going to take away health care that you’ve got right now or a health care plan that you like.
ANGLE: And because federal law requires a 60-day notice of any plan changes, voters will be notified no later than November 1, just before the elections.
CAPRETTA: There will be a lot of disappointed people a few weeks before the election, yes. This month is when many of the people will be notified about their canceled policies.
ANGLE: When the Clinton administration proposed its health care plan, officials intended to make the same promise Mr. Obama did until aides noted they would be over promising “on something we know full well we won’t deliver.â€
CAPRETTA: The truth is that the Clinton health care plan failed in part because people realized they wouldn’t be able to keep their health plan, and they wouldn’t necessarily be able to keep their doctor.
ANTOS: Did I keep my doctor or not? If the answer is, I can’t get a plan that keeps my doctor, I’m unhappy.
ANGLE: Many will not be able to keep their doctors under Obamacare. That and high deductibles will once again make Obamacare an election issue.
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