Posted on 10/29/2013 12:02:03 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Democrats knew all along that some patients would lose their health insurance plans under the new law, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) acknowledged on Tuesday.
Although President Obama had vowed repeatedly that, under his signature healthcare initiative, those who like their plans could keep them, millions of patients are reportedly in individual plans that don't meet the law's minimum coverage criteria, forcing them to buy better insurance.
Hoyer, the House minority whip, said Democrats were aware that such a shift was coming. He defended the change by arguing that those patients would ultimately benefit by getting better insurance, many of them at a lower price than they currently pay.
"We knew that there would be some policies that would not qualify, and therefore people would be required to get more extensive coverage," Hoyer said during a press briefing in the Capitol.
The promise that patients could retain their current coverage was designed, Hoyer said, "to allay the fears of somebody that had insurance — group insurance, for the most part — that do meet the criteria."
"We've used that [message] in trying to allay the fears of people who have group policies or significant coverage … through their employer, which was the overwhelming number," he said. "I think we could have caveated [to say], 'Unless you have coverage that's insufficient to accomplish the objectives of giving you adequate, quality healthcare.'"
Pressed as to whether Obama and the Democrats misled the public on the topic, Hoyer conceded the party's message could have been better articulated.
"I don't think the message was wrong. I think the message was accurate. But it was not precise enough," he said. "Clearly, it should have been caveated with, 'Assuming you have a policy that, in fact, does do what the bill is designed to do.' "
Under the 2010 healthcare law, insurance plans have to cover a basic scope of services to be considered viable under the individual mandate.
On Monday, NBC News reported that at least half of the 14 million Americans who have individual coverage are in plans that don't meet those minimum standards.
Republicans have pounced on the news, arguing that the broken promise is just another reason to scrap the entire law.
"I’ve heard from hundreds of my constituents who are seeing their premiums rise. They’re seeing their policies being canceled," Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Tuesday. "Many, again, are losing their plans."
Hoyer, for his part, defended the shift, arguing the better coverage — which includes preventative care requirements — would pay dividends down the line for both patients and taxpayers alike.
"The principle that the Heritage Foundation articulated was that everybody needed to take personal responsibility so they did not become the responsibility of the public to assist them in their health insurance," he said. "So what we said in the legislation, 'Look, you've got to have some minimal converge so you meet that responsibility.'"
But he also acknowledged that the developments have put the Democrats in a difficult spot politically.
"I'm dying to see the headlines," he said as he left the press conference.
“to allay the fears”
I’m guessing that didn’t work so well!
...... because they believe you’re tooooooo stupid to comprehend the truth.
Glad we’re at least one or two steps ahead of these people.
Let's have O-Blamer address a joint session of Congress, then wall up the place while they're in there. That way we get the lyin' Repubs as well as all the Dems (no need to put the redundant adjective lyin' in from of Dems).
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
― C.S. Lewis
ALL the effects of this bill are foreseen and therefore intended.
Bart Stupak and Olympia Snowe can burn in hell.
Yes it’s fraud.
They’ve perpetrated a fraud. Through deception they have passed a bill that requires all Americans to purchase a product that they don’t want.
NOT ONE REPUBLICAN VOTED FOR OBAMACARE.
This must be REPEALED.
What liberals don’t understand is what some people will do “for their own good.”They have no idea what chain of events they are putting into motion.
Well, that was sweet of them.
The president and the dems knew people would lose their plans. The dems knew that Obama was publicly saying the contrary (i.e. LYING), yet they didn't speak up and they STILL voted for it, forcing it on their constituents.
I swear, if the republicans don't take this and beat the crap out of Obama and his sycophant dems with it all day, every day until the 2014 elections, I'll scream.
Then why, Mr. Boehner, did you vote to fund ObamaCare?
That's what they profess.
But as usual with liberals it's exactly opposite of what they say.
They lied for their own good.
“better insurance” = maternity care for 50 year old women
Every RINO needs to be hung out to dry.
?
I think most leftists you’d talk to would excuse dishonesty in the pursuit of a “larger goal”.
The last change we made was upping the deductible to $7500 a year, but we apparently made that change before March 2010 when the bill was signed. Premium was at $426, then when our renewal came up this month, they said since we turned 60 this year it was going up $100.
If they disallow our policy next year and triple my premium I will pay the tax, no way will I ever log onto that website. So all the years being good citizens, being self insured, to protect our assets in the event of a catastrophic disease and a $100K bill will be gone with a stroke of a pen belonging to a Marxist.
So all these years having insurance and never using it, I am so healthy, now when I will need some medical treatment entering into my twilight years, I will loose everything we have built our whole lives, with one bout of cancer. And when I have to go in front of the death panels they will know I am a Christian and a registered R and I will be denied treatment for sure!
Yeah, it's going to happen all right. My question is what happens when some poor schlob who couldn't afford the four-fold increase in premiums loses his wife to some preventable illness that was not diagnosed in time because they didn't go to the doctor since they no longer had insurance? I know that if I placed the blame for that circumstance on a certain politician, my grief might overcome my better judgment. Not that I advocate such an action (hey, NSA), but with millions of people losing their health insurance, it only takes one to decide that freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.