Posted on 02/25/2021 4:33:57 AM PST by Kaslin
Editor's note: This column was co-authored by Josh Archambault.
It is perhaps the most well-known blunder in American health care politics in the 21st century: “If you like the plan you have, you can keep it.” Yet, just a few years after President Obama uttered those infamous words, millions of Americans found themselves forced off the very health plans they were assured that they could keep.
President Biden repeated the same claim on the campaign trail, promising voters, “If you like your plan, you can keep it.” But already, it seems like he’s gearing up to repeat Obama’s mistake by breaking the very same promise.
In his second week in office, President Biden signed a wide-sweeping Executive Order relating to health care which included a directive for federal agencies to reconsider certain health care policies including those that, allegedly, “undermine the Health Insurance Marketplace or other markets for health insurance,” and “undermine protections for people with pre-existing conditions.”
Both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal picked up that Biden’s subtle hint is likely a preemptive indication of his desire to roll back Trump-era rules relating to short-term health insurance plans.
As premiums have skyrocketed since Obamacare was implemented, short-term plans represent an alternative and affordable option for millions of Americans in transition. On average, these plans are roughly 59 percent more affordable than traditional individual market plans and have greater availability. President Trump expanded short-term plans by increasing their duration to up to 12 months from 90 days, as well as allowing them to be renewed for up to three years. As a result, an estimated 3 million Americans were enrolled in affordable short-term plans at some point in 2019.
For many Americans, these short-term plans represent a crucial lifeline. They cover students who just left their parents’ insurance and are waiting for coverage to kick in at a new job, older Americans waiting to qualify for Medicare, individuals in-between jobs and searching for work, and many more.
Yet, some advocacy groups have already begun pressuring President Biden to roll back these affordable options, which would result in millions losing their health care coverage.
Unfortunately, these groups are repeating disproven, fallacious arguments regarding short-term plans. Despite what critics claim, short-term health plans often contain robust benefits with broad access to providers, something Obamacare plans have been criticized for not having.
In an important new study by Brian Blase from the Galen Institute, the data repudiates the claim that they disrupt individual insurance markets. Indeed, the report indicates that short-term plans actually expand consumer choice, reduce the number of uninsured Americans, and have no negative effects on the individual market.
The data is clear: States that allow full flexibility for short-term plans have seen less enrollment decline in their individual market, more insurers enter their markets, and premiums that are lower than states that ban or restrict short-term plans.
President Biden has a choice: Does he repeat the Obama-era mistake by breaking his promise to Americans and taking away insurance plans, or does he stick to his word and let them keep their health care plans?
Simple answer: Whatever hurts Americans the worst, will be his choice.
His master? Is the writer of this article suggesting what many are fearing - that the 'leader of the free world', 'the most powerful person in the world' is NOT the person who was fraudulently elected but a puppet master behind the curtain? This should curl the neck hair on all Americans!
They also claimed that illegal aliens would not get free health care. You know they’re lying when they open their mouths.
It has never been about “health care” it has always been about control...
The damage being done by Democrats can no longer be attributed to well intended incompetence; it’s now malicious and deliberate. Through their militant operatives with Antifa and BLM, their stated intention is the destruction of our nation and way of life. The benefits of prosperity and our standard of living is in jeopardy. Our future is Venezuela, and is possible because we are too fat, dumb and happy to pay attention to what technology and fascism are doing right in front of our eyes.
Obama didnt make a “mistake” in breaking his promise. It was a deliberate lie.
So sadly true. Bizarro world is here.
Biden already put over 11,000 out of work with the Keystone pipeline.
How many people work in the health INSURANCE industry???
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