With all the coverage these days about president Obama's false promise that folks could keep their insurance plans if they liked them, it's worth looking at the subject to see how it was possible that the lie went unnoticed by most Americans for all these years.
Let's start with the moment when Obama's promise clearly became a lie. That was in the summer of 2010 when the regulations under Obamacare were issued that dealt with the so called grandfathered insurance plans. Under the statute, plans in existence that remained unchanged were approved as proper, but there were to be regulations to determine how that process would work and what would be considered a "change" sufficient for the plan to lose its protection. Individual plans have been the subject of most recent discussion. Those plans had to meet the basic requirements of Obamacare in order to survive and they also had to remain unchanged. The same issues arise with regard to employer and group plans as well. The regulations defined the requirements to be grandfathered so strictly that the majority of these plans would not pass muster under Obamacare as well.
When the regulations were issued in 2010, they included a chart which contained the administration's estimate of just what percentage of these plans would continue to be grandfathered by the time Obamacare kicked in full force on January 1, 2014. Here is that chart taken from the Federal Register which was reprinted on Power Line Blog:
The key line in the chart is the mid-range estimate that by the end of 2013, 51% of all employer plans would no longer be grandfathered under Obamacare. Let's take a step back and understand what that means. Here in 2010, the federal government is publishing regulations that have the effect of forcing the cancellation of over half of all the employer policies in the country as of 2014. In other words, from the moment this regulation was published, it was clear that you could not keep your plan if you liked it. From the moment this regulation was published, it was clear that Obama had lied. From the moment the regulation was published, there should have been outrage across the country at the lie told by Obama.
Of course, there was no such outrage. In fact, I doubt that even 5% of Americans knew about what the government bureaucrats had put in place. The media never told them, so how would they know?
Now you may think that the media just missed this little item in the Federal Register which publishes hundreds of pages of regulations and other items each day. If that is your reaction, you would be wrong. After the regulation was published, the Republicans in the Senate made an effort to overturn the regulation just because of the dire consequences it would have on the existing insurance plans of the majority of Americans. Within a few weeks of the regulation appearing in the Federal Register, Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming introduced a resolution on the floor of the Senate that would overturn that regulation specifically because it would end the ability of Americans to keep their current insurance policies. There was debate in the Senate, but the resolution did not pass. Of course, that is no surprise since the Democrats controlled that body at the time by 59 to 41.
When the Senate considered this regulation, did the media tell Americans about it? Not really. But the proof is undeniable that in 2010, the Democrats in the Senate all knew that Obama's promise that folks could keep their insurance was a lie. These Democrats then took action to keep that lie in place and prevented a move that would have stopped that travesty from being foisted on this country. The news appeared on a few conservative sites, but even there, it was mostly mixed in with the overall effort to repeal the entire Obamacare law.
Right now we are watching the slow motion dismantling of the entire health insurance structure of all Americans. By the time that the Employer Mandate goes into effect in January 2015, more than half of all Americans will have lost their current insurance. These folks will be faced with getting only one of the Obamacare one-size-fits-all policies. They will pay more than before. They will have much higher deductibles than before. They will get less healthcare than before. Oh, some will get subsidies, but even these folks will be getting less coverage than before due to higher deductibles.
The lie here belongs to president Obama. He is the one who kept saying that we could all keep our policies which he knew was a false statement. The assist on the lie, however, goes to the Senate Democrats who saved the regulation the kills so many policies even when they were faced with the truth about its effect. They too deserve the full blame for the lie. Then there is the media. They let Obamacare pass without ever even reading the bill and reporting on what it actually did. Then when the Obama administration made clear that more than half of Americans would lose their policies, the media stayed silent. They were content to get their talking points from the White House and to parrot them to their audience. They too should get major blame.
Let's start with the moment when Obama's promise clearly became a lie. That was in the summer of 2010 when the regulations under Obamacare were issued that dealt with the so called grandfathered insurance plans. Under the statute, plans in existence that remained unchanged were approved as proper, but there were to be regulations to determine how that process would work and what would be considered a "change" sufficient for the plan to lose its protection. Individual plans have been the subject of most recent discussion. Those plans had to meet the basic requirements of Obamacare in order to survive and they also had to remain unchanged. The same issues arise with regard to employer and group plans as well. The regulations defined the requirements to be grandfathered so strictly that the majority of these plans would not pass muster under Obamacare as well.
When the regulations were issued in 2010, they included a chart which contained the administration's estimate of just what percentage of these plans would continue to be grandfathered by the time Obamacare kicked in full force on January 1, 2014. Here is that chart taken from the Federal Register which was reprinted on Power Line Blog:
The key line in the chart is the mid-range estimate that by the end of 2013, 51% of all employer plans would no longer be grandfathered under Obamacare. Let's take a step back and understand what that means. Here in 2010, the federal government is publishing regulations that have the effect of forcing the cancellation of over half of all the employer policies in the country as of 2014. In other words, from the moment this regulation was published, it was clear that you could not keep your plan if you liked it. From the moment this regulation was published, it was clear that Obama had lied. From the moment the regulation was published, there should have been outrage across the country at the lie told by Obama.
Of course, there was no such outrage. In fact, I doubt that even 5% of Americans knew about what the government bureaucrats had put in place. The media never told them, so how would they know?
Now you may think that the media just missed this little item in the Federal Register which publishes hundreds of pages of regulations and other items each day. If that is your reaction, you would be wrong. After the regulation was published, the Republicans in the Senate made an effort to overturn the regulation just because of the dire consequences it would have on the existing insurance plans of the majority of Americans. Within a few weeks of the regulation appearing in the Federal Register, Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming introduced a resolution on the floor of the Senate that would overturn that regulation specifically because it would end the ability of Americans to keep their current insurance policies. There was debate in the Senate, but the resolution did not pass. Of course, that is no surprise since the Democrats controlled that body at the time by 59 to 41.
When the Senate considered this regulation, did the media tell Americans about it? Not really. But the proof is undeniable that in 2010, the Democrats in the Senate all knew that Obama's promise that folks could keep their insurance was a lie. These Democrats then took action to keep that lie in place and prevented a move that would have stopped that travesty from being foisted on this country. The news appeared on a few conservative sites, but even there, it was mostly mixed in with the overall effort to repeal the entire Obamacare law.
Right now we are watching the slow motion dismantling of the entire health insurance structure of all Americans. By the time that the Employer Mandate goes into effect in January 2015, more than half of all Americans will have lost their current insurance. These folks will be faced with getting only one of the Obamacare one-size-fits-all policies. They will pay more than before. They will have much higher deductibles than before. They will get less healthcare than before. Oh, some will get subsidies, but even these folks will be getting less coverage than before due to higher deductibles.
The lie here belongs to president Obama. He is the one who kept saying that we could all keep our policies which he knew was a false statement. The assist on the lie, however, goes to the Senate Democrats who saved the regulation the kills so many policies even when they were faced with the truth about its effect. They too deserve the full blame for the lie. Then there is the media. They let Obamacare pass without ever even reading the bill and reporting on what it actually did. Then when the Obama administration made clear that more than half of Americans would lose their policies, the media stayed silent. They were content to get their talking points from the White House and to parrot them to their audience. They too should get major blame.
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