1. President Barack Obama on health insurance plans
 President Barack Obama speaks about health care reform in the Rose Garden of the White House on Nov. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds) |
“If you like the [health care] plan you have, you can keep it.”
—President Barack Obama, June 6, 2009 (similarly stated numerous times) The Affordable Care Act imposed new standards on health care plans, such as a minimum required set of benefits, and limits on total out-of-pocket expenses. A small percentage of existing plans did not meet these standards, and in some cases, the insurance company that had offered them decided to discontinue them. They were, in effect, “canceled.” Though these plans were not very comprehensive, a fraction of the 4-to-5 percent of Americans who had purchased them were upset when they discovered they would not be able to keep them after all. The president’s oft-repeated — and now demonstrably false — claim added fuel to the fire. The administration imposed a temporary “keep your plan” fix to the health care law, and extended it through the midterm elections. |
