By Tom Toth
Barack Obama’s presidential legacy will forever be tied to his administration’s keynote legislation, the Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare.” Since before he was elected, Obama sold his healthcare overhaul scheme to the American people with grand promises.
Time and time again, two major guarantees were explicitly made to those skeptical about the law.
The first guarantee made by Obama assured that those with private insurance would be able to keep their current healthcare plans and personal doctors if they desired, once the plan was in place. The second talking point promised that the average family would save around $2,500 per year.
“If you like your private health insurance plan, you can keep your plan. Period.”
August 9, 2009
Barack Obama fervently insisted on this promise on the campaign trail. He bloviated time and time again:
“Let me repeat this: Nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have.”
This statement and many like it were made throughout 2009 to 2012. Fast forward to 2013. Now we are on the other side of the Obamacare debate and have a unique perspective on these so-called ‘guarantees’.
Four years later, the President’s plan has passed into law and is on the way to full implementation. With the failure of the government healthcare technology rollout, the American people are now seeing clearly the emptiness of the campaign trail ‘promises’ and the very real consequences of Obama’s ideas.
But why have these ‘guarantees’ turned out to be such blatant lies with the implementation of the law? The reason lies in the language of the Affordable Care Act, which mandates specific qualifications for each health insurance plan. If a healthcare plan doesn’t meet those qualifications, the private health insurance plan will be deemed noncompliant and will be cancelled.
Over 1.5 million people currently possessing healthcare insurance have already received cancellation notices from their insurance providers since the beginning of October. These letters state specifically that the plan is being cancelled due to the restrictions of the Affordable Care Act. Many insurance companies are cancelling any policy sold since the passing of the law in 2010 and reports have included cancellations of plans for those with preexisting conditions.
But this may only be the tip of the iceberg for plan cancellations.
Before the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, about 149 million had employer-sponsored health insurance. It has been estimated by the Department of Labor that around 69 percent, or plans affecting 102 million Americans will not be grandfathered in under Obamacare’s regulations.
According to health insurance market expert Robert Laszewski, of the 19 million with individual health insurance policies, 16 million will lose their previous plans due to Obamacare regulations.
Adding these together, as many as 118 million Americans could lose their existing private insurance coverage due directly to Obamacare’s requirements. With the last United States census calculating the population at 317 million people, this number represents over 37 percent of the nation’s population.
So no, Mr. President, most Americans cannot keep their private health plans. And if Barack Obama knew the language to the Affordable Care Act he signed, he necessarily knew he was lying to America.
“If you already have health insurance, we will lower your premiums by $2,500 per family, per year.”
February 19, 2008
It’s clear that Obama’s promises to the American people while he was campaigning for election in 2008 do not even remotely match up to the painful healthcare reality of 2013.
Tom Toth is the social media director of Americans for Limited Government.
