Dems Seek Cover from Obamacare’s Broken Promise of Keeping Health Plan - East Idaho News
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Dems Seek Cover from Obamacare’s Broken Promise of Keeping Health Plan

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102313 USCapitolBldg?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1384321718500Architect of the Capitol(WASHINGTON) — Democrats are beginning to show signs of division as the House of Representatives prepares to vote this week to ensure that the millions of Americans who have received cancellation notices of their health care plans can keep their preferred coverage, in spite of President Obama’s oft-repeated promise.

The Keep Your Health Plan Act, which would allow insurance plans currently available to individuals to be offered in 2014 without penalty under the law’s individual mandate, is expected to come up for a vote in the House this Friday.

After former President Clinton called on President Obama to “honor the commitment” that if you like your health insurance you can keep it, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer admitted Tuesday that the president and other Democrats were “not precise” as they stumped in favor of the health care overhaul.

It should be noted Presdident Clinton also lobbied for Obamacare before President Obama’s signature legislation proved to be frought with unadvertised fine print that is proving disatrous for millions of Americans.

“The president was not precise and I think that was — he should have been precise. We all should have been more precise,” Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the lower chamber, confessed during a briefing with reporters at the Capitol Tuesday. “He was not precise enough, and therefore it’s led to the position we now find ourselves in.”

Hoyer worked to draw a distinction between people keeping policies they obtained before the enactment of the Affordable Care Act on March 25, 2010, and those who acquired health care coverage plans that do not meet criteria set in Obamacare after the president signed the bill into law.

“Had [President Obama] been more precise talking about if you had a policy prior to the signing of the bill where criteria were not applied they were grandfathered in. You know, if you liked it you could keep it,” Hoyer, D-Md., explained. “If you got a policy subsequent to that that didn’t meet the criteria, that’s what you’re seeing cancellations on [now].”

Hoyer said that while he had not yet read the Keep Your Health Plan Act or decided definitively about how he will vote, he is “inclined” to oppose the measure when it comes up for a vote later this week.

To date, just one House Democrat, Rep. John Barrow of Georgia, has signed on to co-sponsor the legislation.

“When folks were first introduced to the Affordable Care Act, they were promised that they could keep their current plan if they liked it. As it turns out, that’s not the case today,” Barrow, who opposed the health care vote on passage in 2010, wrote in a statement today announcing his support for fix. “We should be doing all we can to ensure that promise is kept.”

Upon learning of Barrow’s support for the bill, Hoyer dismissed concerns that the upcoming vote could divide the House Democratic Caucus.

“Does it have Democratic co-sponsors?” Hoyer asked reporters, who answered that Barrow had signed on as a co-sponsor. “No, I’m not concerned with that.”

Lawmakers returned to Washington Tuesday after spending more than a week in their congressional districts. Hoyer said he hoped that the Obama administration would take preemptive executive action in the days ahead in order to avert the potential spectacle of a bipartisan vote Friday.

“The president apparently is looking at this,” Hoyer said. “I’m not sure what he’s looking at. I haven’t been briefed on it yet. I want to be briefed on what his thoughts are.”

Meanwhile, Americans are letting their voices again be heard regarding their opposition to Obamacare, and their reaction to President Obama’s campaign promise about keeping their coverage:  For the first time, a majority of American voters — 52 percent — say Obama is not honest and trustworthy, his lowest marks ever, according to a new national Quinnipiac University poll.  

According to the poll results, voters are divided 46-47 percent on whether the president “knowingly deceived” Americans when he said people could keep their existing health plans if they liked.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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