My philosophy: Expect the worst, hope for the best. - Aides Debated Obama Health-Care Coverage Promise - Behind the Scenes, White House Officials Worried About Insurance Pledge (they took a chance; was it worth it ...)
From The Wall Street Journal:
As President Barack Obama pushed for a new federal health law in 2009, he made a simple pledge: If you like your insurance plan, you can keep your plan. But behind the scenes, White House officials discussed whether that was a promise they could keep.
When the question arose, Mr. Obama's advisers decided that the assertion was fair, interviews with more than a dozen people involved in crafting and explaining the president's health-care plan show.
But at times, there was second-guessing. At one point, aides discussed whether Mr. Obama might use more in-depth discussions, such as media interviews, to explain the nuances of the succinct line in his stump speeches, a former aide said. Officials worried, though, that delving into details such as the small number of people who might lose insurance could be confusing and would clutter the president's message.
The breadth of Mr. Obama's statement proved to be a miscalculation. Mr. Obama repeated the claim, with only occasional caveats, through this week, when a flurry of cancellation notices from insurers to customers around the country prompted him to recalibrate. The resulting furor has energized Republican opposition to the plan, which only a few weeks ago had fallen flat as a result of the party's failed attempt to link it to government spending and debt deadlines.
The health law aims to eliminate certain low-premium policies that the administration said provide skimpy coverage and could leave people with high out-of-pocket costs. While it allows insurers to continue covering longtime customers with policies that were in existence as of March 2010, many insurers are canceling such plans because they would die out, anyway, in the absence of new customers.
About 5% of the U.S. population, or about 15.4 million people, are covered under individual health plans, and many of them—as many as 10 million—are expected to have their health plans terminated by their insurers by year-end, industry experts have said. These customers account for many of those now receiving cancellation notices; Mr. Obama says they will be able to buy better coverage on the new federal insurance exchange.
One former senior administration official said that as the law was being crafted by the White House and lawmakers, some White House policy advisers objected to the breadth of Mr. Obama's "keep your plan'' promise. They were overruled by political aides, the former official said. The White House said it was unaware of the objections.
Mr. Obama began offering broad assurances as he campaigned for president in 2008, before the Affordable Care Act was written or many of the details decided. In a presidential debate with Republican nominee John McCain, Mr. Obama said that "if you've got health care already…you can keep your plan."
Before then, Hillary Clinton was making similar promises about her proposed health-care overhaul. As she campaigned for president in 2007, Mrs. Clinton said, "Here's how my plan works: If you already have private insurance, and you're happy with it, nothing changes. You keep that insurance."
Mr. Obama adopted similar language during the campaign and continued to use it in the White House as he pitched Congress and the American people on his health-care legislation.
As President Barack Obama pushed for a new federal health law in 2009, he made a simple pledge: If you like your insurance plan, you can keep your plan. But behind the scenes, White House officials discussed whether that was a promise they could keep.
When the question arose, Mr. Obama's advisers decided that the assertion was fair, interviews with more than a dozen people involved in crafting and explaining the president's health-care plan show.
But at times, there was second-guessing. At one point, aides discussed whether Mr. Obama might use more in-depth discussions, such as media interviews, to explain the nuances of the succinct line in his stump speeches, a former aide said. Officials worried, though, that delving into details such as the small number of people who might lose insurance could be confusing and would clutter the president's message.
The breadth of Mr. Obama's statement proved to be a miscalculation. Mr. Obama repeated the claim, with only occasional caveats, through this week, when a flurry of cancellation notices from insurers to customers around the country prompted him to recalibrate. The resulting furor has energized Republican opposition to the plan, which only a few weeks ago had fallen flat as a result of the party's failed attempt to link it to government spending and debt deadlines.
The health law aims to eliminate certain low-premium policies that the administration said provide skimpy coverage and could leave people with high out-of-pocket costs. While it allows insurers to continue covering longtime customers with policies that were in existence as of March 2010, many insurers are canceling such plans because they would die out, anyway, in the absence of new customers.
About 5% of the U.S. population, or about 15.4 million people, are covered under individual health plans, and many of them—as many as 10 million—are expected to have their health plans terminated by their insurers by year-end, industry experts have said. These customers account for many of those now receiving cancellation notices; Mr. Obama says they will be able to buy better coverage on the new federal insurance exchange.
One former senior administration official said that as the law was being crafted by the White House and lawmakers, some White House policy advisers objected to the breadth of Mr. Obama's "keep your plan'' promise. They were overruled by political aides, the former official said. The White House said it was unaware of the objections.
Mr. Obama began offering broad assurances as he campaigned for president in 2008, before the Affordable Care Act was written or many of the details decided. In a presidential debate with Republican nominee John McCain, Mr. Obama said that "if you've got health care already…you can keep your plan."
Before then, Hillary Clinton was making similar promises about her proposed health-care overhaul. As she campaigned for president in 2007, Mrs. Clinton said, "Here's how my plan works: If you already have private insurance, and you're happy with it, nothing changes. You keep that insurance."
Mr. Obama adopted similar language during the campaign and continued to use it in the White House as he pitched Congress and the American people on his health-care legislation.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 9:17 AM
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