A new report by NBC News confirms that the administration knew President Obama’s oft-uttered promise “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan” would not prove true for millions of Americans:
Four sources deeply involved in the Affordable Care Act tell NBC NEWSthat 50 to 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy theirinsurance individually can expect to receive a “cancellation” letter orthe equivalent over the next year because their existing policies don’tmeet the standards mandated by the new health care law. One expertpredicts that number could reach as high as 80 percent. And all say thatmany of those forced to buy pricier new policies will experience
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the administration knew that more than 40 to 67 percent of those inthe individual market would not be able to keep their plans, even ifthey liked them.
Yet President Obama, who had promised in 2009,plan,” was still saying in 2012, “If [you] already have healthinsurance, you will keep your health insurance.”
in this market outright couldn’t keep what they had and then they wrotethe rules so that others couldn’t make it either,” said RobertLaszewski, of Health Policy and Strategy Associates, a consultant whoworks for health industry firms. Laszewski estimates that 80 percent ofthose in the individual market will not be able to keep their currentpolicies and will have to buy insurance that meets requirements of thenew law, which generally requires a richer package of benefits than mostpolicies today.
If the 80 percent figure is correct then approximately 11 million people will lose their current plans and have no choice but to purchase the new government approved plans. This figure does not include the 7 million or so who could be dumped off their employer plans as a result of the reform.