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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Amazing! If Obama were CEO of any corporation, his lack of leadership and blunders would have led to corrective action by the Board. We, the people, are the board to make him accountable. This should not be a one-year fix as it means nothing. Still a broken promise.
Oh, for pete's sake....
All we care about is getting past the 2014 midterm elections. Wake up every one.
You can't uncancel insurance policies. What a crock.
Insurance is a private enterprise regulated at the state level. What Obama says doesn't matter.
Perfect – you still lost your insurance, we're just not going to fine you...Sounds good to me...
Dear Insurance Companies,
I am going to continually re-mandate new rules for this until I get it right so people will stop hatin' on me. Please open your checkbook and accommodate everything I tell you to do until people shut up.
And then what? This isn't a fix, it's a delaying tactic.
The affordable care act is on life support but flatlining fast.
Since Insurance companies drop thousands of people every year, what percentage of these cancellations are actually related to Obamacare?
Any suspicion that the insurance companies are cancelling some people simply in order to use the opportunity to help defeat Obamacare?
So now he is say "See... you CAN keep your plan!" even though it is only a year extension.
What a dolt.
Can we assume that the President and all of congress will be required to take out a policy under Obamacare?
Not good enough of a fix.
Wow – with a stroke of the pen, the legislative branch of government is abolished! Vladimir Putin is so proud of his little Barry.
In other words "please get us democrats through the next election"
Jeff Brown in Jersey
Stay strong Mr. President. Don't let the GOP filth get you down!
............................................................
OMG, now there are two Moonbeams, one on the left and East Coasts.
The idea of a legislative "back-up" solution sounds good. Only Congress can make or change laws, even if Obama thinks he can change laws at his whim.
Obamacare fix? More like 2014 mid term election fix.
Just scrap the whole thing and start over. This is accomplishing nothing. I hope the voters remember who put this thing called Obamacare around Americas neck in 2014 ad 2016. Is this tv Hoe and Change that was promised?
That's not a fix. I still lose my insurance a year from now and under Obamacare, my new options don't allow me to go the one hospital in my area that offers decent care. The whole Obamacare needs to be scrapped. Why can't people with plans be grandfathered in so they can keep thier plans indifinitely. The whole mess is the result of one man's ego–Obama wanted this mess passed asap when he got into office and shoved it down everyone's throat before anyone had been able to figure out what the whole thing woudl do to the population. That's just the worst thing an administration can do. All the congressmen who voted for this mess are just much in the idiot category as the president.
That's nice. What about the applicant's that won't qualify for coverage under the ACA? Heard on the news this morning that there are applicants that are not qualifying for coverage. What's that about? I thought that EVERYONE was suppose to be able to get healthcare coverage. I tried to apply yesterday and the site didn't work 🙁
Kicking the can down the road will not work on this one Mr. President. There is more involved with this than just saying you can keep it for one more year. There is about 50 million dollars in administrative costs that it would take just to do this for 1 year. Impossible that companies would elect to do that.
With a wave of his magic wand, he is able to force companies to now offer plans they had cancelled. Can companies that are forced to re-implement things sue over this... Obama is a community organizer, not a CEO.
People should stop hyperventilating over this... They'll get sick, and with Republican backed health insurance they currently have, they'll be SOL...lol
This still does not allow the people to keep the insurance they currently have as was promissed by Obama. This just extends this mess for one year. Please impeach this guy.
Have Republicans changed their tune on Obamacare? Or are the following quotes just the result of rank hypocrisy? You decide:
“The implementation has been horrendous… The good news is that the competition that’s being created has lowered premiums significantly.” – Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)
“Like most significant programs, the new benefit has not gone without a few isolated glitches and unexpected problems. But I believe that if there is anything wrong with the plan, most of it has been fixed and that what hasn’t can be fixed over time.” – Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA)
“Any time something is new, there is going to be some glitches.” – Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA)
“Rather than trying to scare and confuse seniors, I would hope we can work together as we go through the implementation phase to find out what is wrong with the program and if we can make some changes to fix it, let us do it and let us do it on a bipartisan basis.” – Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX)
If you guessed “rank hypocrisy” congratulations – these quotes are from early 2006 when the GOP screwed up their rollout of Medicare Part D.