Obama Said You Could Keep Your Insurance Plan But...

President Obama frequently said 'if you like your plan you can keep it' when talking about health insurance plans before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) legislation was passed. Was he telling the truth, and in a practical sense, does it matter? Cenk Uygur, comedian Dave Rubin (The Rubin Report), comedian Jimmy Dore (TYT Comedy) and Michael Shure break it down on The Young Turks.

Cenk Uygur, comedian Dave Rubin (The Rubin Report), comedian Jimmy Dore (TYT Comedy) and Michael Shure break it down on The Young Turks.

[FilipCordas]

“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” 
― George Orwell, 1984 

[AlSaudSon]

We have had insurance with AVMA GHLIT (veterinarians professional ins. group) for 30 years. We have been notified that our coverage ends Jan 1 2014. The reason given for the closing of our insurance group which was formed in 1957 was that the AVMA does not allow the "general public" to participate.
The Federal Government's health care plan for the House of Representatives and The Senate are NOT open to the "general public". When will they have their health care plans shut-down?

[BeornBorg]

A person I worked with for several years had their first child in France.

He worked for a private company in Paris, and was one of the people who mentioned that his healthcare costs (taxes + private) were less than what we paid working for a fortune 500 company.

He lived there several years and was really happy with the care. They moved here to the US for her parents. But they go back to Europe every year for his family.

It's GREAT HERE, but I think we could do BETTER.

[mgelliott]

I do not accept the logic that if someone is CHOOSING to drive a Ford Focus because of the cost and benefit ratio working for them, then the government mandates they purchase a Mercedes E Class, which was 60K in 2013 and is 54k in 2014, and then they say, you are getting a better car, with better features, and it costs less, and the car you USED to have was inferior.

[jerico]

Okay, somebody give me a hand here: I work for a small city, and have for 5 years. Last year, the city switched to Blue Cross/Blue Shield healthcare. As I'm single, the plan I have covers me alone, and it's free as long as I work for the city. Am I going to be able to keep it as is? Just a quick answer, so I don't have to wade through the Human Resources Department.

[inademv]

I don't believe I at any point indicated that it was anything close to or resembling an ideal solution to the issues here but the protections it offers to citizens is a tremendous improvement over what we had.

[romanmir]

5:00 - a CHECKUP IS NOT AN INSURANCE EVENT.

Insurance is a BET that the purchaser makes that he'll need it and the provider makes that he won't. A CHECKUP IS AN EVENT WITH 99% CERTAINTY THAT YOU WILL NEED IT.

There is no longer insurance with ACA, it's a "managed health care plan", it has NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING EVEN REMOTELY RESEMBLING INSURANCE.

ACA killed, destroyed, annihilated the very concept of insurance, the 'pre-existing condition' is a MUST for a real insurance.

[Julia]

What is not being taken into account is the response of the insurance industry and the amount of greed that they have been operating under, Individual policies have been notoriously spotty in what they provided in the past. They have been also notoriously shady with underwriting and making sure than their individual market clients will not be using their insurance plans. I think the insurance industry brought this upon themselves.

[sailorstevea]

Every time they say better, it should be followed with "and more expensive."

[ThePseudomancer]

The coverage is only being discontinued for people who changed their insurance. All plans prior to Mar 24, 2010 DO NOT have to comply with ACA.

But, people change their plans fairly regularly and new plans were being rolled out to meet some portions of ACA compliance at that time. So many people chose a new plan which was not protected by the grandfather clause.

And, because many of these plans were still not fully ACA compliant, they are now illegal.

As for subsidies... cont...

[inademv]

With the cable company example it is because the infrastructure, namely the hardlines that connect you, are proprietary to the company that built them and the company that does own them has no reason to allow another to service them.

With insurance companies, there is no physical infrastructure for them to rely on.

[yadabub]

My insurance company has changed my healthcare plan 3 times in the last 8 years. I had the choice to like it or lump it. People were lucky *before* the affordable care act if they could "keep their plan."

[brianmorgan]

what's going on with this 'you can keep your old health care coverage if you choose." and then everybody finds out that you can't keep it after all and why would these guys push for a health care bill that would raise so many people's premiums through the roof?

[sheeksipedia]

Wait, who has seen better coverage for less money? One would imagine that if there were success stories that they would be paraded in front of the masses. Instead, everyone who I've talked to with health insurance has seen their premiums, deductibles, and medication costs skyrocket and their actual coverage decrease. It's pathetic how bad this has turned out. Most of my poorer friends are saying that it's going to be cheaper for them to pay the fine than to pay for the insurance. depressing

[ChrisRayGun]

You're point is a good one, but I would argue that lying to kill Arabs and lying to reform healthcare are two incredibly different levels of severity.

[bluesrockfan]

The question would then be...

Why weren't the other cable companies offering their services to that sector of the market?.

It's not like there's not any profit to be gained.

[TheWidowmaker]

When any politician says 'let me be clear' it's the same as saying 'get ready, I'm about to lie to you'. And Obama uses that ALL the time unsurprisingly

[DrSprigs]

so glad i'm in the UK, we've had the NHS (health care) since 1948, never complained once its brilliant

[romanmir]

Obama said: "you can keep your plan, even if it is substandard, if you like it".

What he didn't say (but knew when he was saying) was that ACA was making most standard catastrophic coverage plans illegal.

You can keep your 'substandard' plan if you like it, as long as your insurance provider allows you to keep it, but we won't allow the insurance provider to provide it, so he won't be able to provide it, so you won't be able to keep it.

Now go and buy a 3-10 or more times as expensive plan...

[inademv]

Think about how your cable company is (very likely) the only cable company you can buy that service from. It would be like mandating that other companies would be able to service that hardline connection if you wished to purchase their services instead of those of the one you currently buy from.