First on CNN: Obama to push fix for insurance cancellations
[Breaking news update 11:55 a.m. ET]
Sources close to the insurance industry tell CNN's Gloria Borger that it looks like insurance companies will cooperate with President Barack Obama's proposed solution to the problem of health care plan cancellations due to Obamacare.
[Original story posted 11:03 a.m. ET]
(CNN) – President Barack Obama will lay out an administrative solution to address the problem of people getting cancellation notices from their health insurance providers due to the Affordable Care Act, a senior Democratic source familiar with the plan tells CNN's Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash.
Obama will deliver remarks at 11:35 a.m. ET in the White House Press Briefing Room, the White House announced Thursday morning.
The plan will in part call for insurance policies to be renewed for one year for those who already have insurance policies in the individual market, the source said.
If an insurance company does renew a substandard plan, it would be required to do two things. First, it would have to notify the policy holder of alternative coverage options. Second, the company would have to disclose all of the benefits a policy holder will lose if she keeps an existing substandard plan.
The source noted the President may disclose additional details.
White House says Obamacare site improving, enrollment off sharply
In addition, the source said the President would allow state insurance commissioners to decide on their own to not permit this renewal.
It's worth noting, however, that there are some states - including Virginia, Kentucky and Idaho - that require all plans in their state to comply with Affordable Care Act standards.
White House officials get earful from Democrats on Obamacare
Even though the President is about to announce the fix, House Democrats are planning to unveil their own legislative proposal that will be offered as an alternative during a procedural vote on the House GOP bill tomorrow, according to two senior House Democratic aides.
“It's back up,” one of these aides told CNN. “We want to have suspenders and a belt.”
This will allow members of Congress to be on the record voting for a solution.
Poll: Obama approval ratings drop, Americans say he's not trustworthy
When selling Obamacare, the President repeatedly assured Americans they would be able to keep their plans if they liked them. However, many Americans have been getting dropped from their providers because their existing policies don't work with the new regulations.
Obama has since apologized for people losing their coverage and pledged to find a solution.
Many in Congress avoiding health care exchanges
– CNN’s Deirdre Walsh and Mark Preston contributed to this report.
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"insurance companies will be required to notify policyholders of alternative coverage and what benefits they would be losing by keeping their existing plan." This is awesome!! Yep Insurance companies have to give the costumer a choice whether to keep their crap policy or get ACA. Insurance companies should have told the consumer that signed up for policies after ACA went into LAW that starting Jan 1st 2014 that their polices may not meet the standards. Some insurance companies left that little part of information out that probably would have been helpful to the consumer.
Obama your destroying the country, the work place and liberty. You truly are the worst president in my lifetime
By the latest numbers: 5 Million cancellations, 100 thousand sign ups. So ACA just tossed 4.9 Million people of health insurance. There are some good things this act – health savings accounts, no caps, no cancellations. But the rest is an abomination. Administrative fix? You can't fix this pig of law. Its net effect will have fewer people insured, not more. That's bad legislation. Period.
james Pfeiffer Stay on topic.
Obamacare is 100% on the Dems period.
.
Aren't you little too late. Its half of November, notices went out people are dropped. So your plan is to tell Insurance companies not to do what the law says (change insurance coverage)
What a mess.
I love how the socialists keep trying to defend and justify the mistakes/lies of the present, with the mistakes/lies of the past. Two wrongs don't make a right.
I do not believe anything ANY politician says.
Seriously the republicans if they have any sense at all will stay far far away from this and let the dems be 1000% responsible for all of this. Politicians are not about helping the country, they are about getting reelected, makings $Millions for their own pockets, and demonizing their enemies again so they can repeat the cycle.
I don't see how he do the above. Allowing people to keep their existing policy without the enhancements mandated by Obamacare, will mean their premium will be lower, and that will kill the whole thing because the cost of the plans with all the new enhancements will sky rocket.
If you like your plan (and if Obamacare hasn't already caused it to be cancelled), you can keep your plan (well, just for one year). Period. Trying to put the toothpaste back into the tube. Very messy.
Great leaders never apologize. They act. Part of being a human is to screw-up, sometimes royally. No different for Obama. He needs to man-up, show leadership, and fix this mess, even if it means dumping it. It's another example that big government is not the answer. Personal responsibility is, and always has been. It means "we, the people" need to get up off our haunches, and fix things, relying upon ourselves.
Obama's plan to address this disaster is an administrative one...not legislative, which means more tax dollars. He just doesn't get it. I understand this was years in the making and this is his baby...his legacy, etc. there is a lot at stake and so he is going to avoid having to admit defeat at all costs. The Democrats will pay a steep price in teh midterms and 2016 for this...that much is certain...as certain as the sun will rise tomorrow.
Well, this makes sense. They would not have included a grandfather clause in the law if they did not intend some policies be grandfathered in. The problem was that the grandfather clause went into effect a few years ago, too soon, and this left too many people with newer plans or plans that had been altered by their insurers that did not qualify.
This clown needs to resign or be impeached. I wouldn't trust him to walk my dog at this point. After lying to the American people like this, who the heck is going to believe anything he says? Who is going to trust him anymore? His credibility is zero. He is the worse kind of political hack. One that believes the ends justifies the means. I'm sure that is what he was tellling himself as he repeated his lies many times.
Can't fix this admin wise ...the business model is broken and will eventually have higher rates and a lot more taxes to support this law. This is a fiscal nightmare and our 'transparent' leader knows it and has lied all along.
All this chango ever does is apologize!
liberals dont grin they smirk
No serious person can believe Pelosi! Obama or Reid. This is just one more lie to the American people.
I kept my insurance. Would have never known any of this happened if it wasn't on the news every day telling me that it's going to ruin my life. Dumb people.
and then
Obama isn't a liar as much as he is not a leader. He's a college professor in a job that he is unfit for. He's insulated and protected by doe-eyed followers. A real leader admits a screw-up, goes to Congress, and says, let's dump this and start again. It's better to have lost billions preparing for this than hundreds of billions down the road. Hey, Obama! Man up!
Someone needs to tell the Emperor that he cannot simply make "administrative changes" to a LAW! This is of course just pure hooey, since the insurance companies will not be required to re-offer the canceled plans and have no incentive to do so. They would much prefer to "upgrade" everyone into a more expensive (profitable) plan. Also can someone please tell the Emperor that he is naked?
So the plan is for the POTUS to mandate insurance companies to issue policies which were reviewed at the state level by state insurance commissioners and found to be inadequate based on federal law. Now in the next 45 days, these policies are to be reviewed and approved. At the same time the insurance companies have sold stocks/bonds and made forward looking financial statements based on the 'approved' policies. Furthermore, the President is going to mandate private companies sell products they no longer sell. Couldn't be any issues with that. Also, the CBO numbers (which were at best suspect before) completely fall apart. Should all work out well
Initially, I was 100% all pro-Obamacare until just last week. I thought this was going to be great, but came to find during my employer's annual benefits review meeting, they are going to be cancelling our extremely affordable medical PPO insurance plan and replacing it for the 2014 calendar year with an outrageously high-deductible health plan to go along with a health-savings account for which we will need to take additional tax-deferred deductions to fund. This truly makes me look at the so-called "affordable" health care act in an entirely different light, as apparently, it is NOT as "affordable" as I had been misled to think !!!!
tom I ; tea party folks are the only people dumb enough to want sub standard insurance. Have you read what is in the Affordable Healthcare Act? Obviously you haven't . Why don't you take some time and understand the features presented. Stop obstructing and start helping.
So now we get another year of our insurance (just in time to get us through midterm elections), and then everyone can lose their insurance again? Sweet. Thanks.