July 22 2009

You can keep your health care… exactly like it is now… until the end of time.

Page 16 of the House’s Health Care bill says this,

“Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day” of the year the legislation becomes law.”

An editorial at Investors Business Daily interpreted that like this,

So we can all keep our coverage, just as promised — with, of course, exceptions: Those who currently have private individual coverage won’t be able to change it. Nor will those who leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.

In the slimiest possible sense, the President wasn’t lying. You can keep the insurance you currently have. You just can’t ever adjust it or get any new insurance once the law goes into effect.

Why haven’t these details been a part of the President’s ubiquitous health care stump speech? If it’s such a great option, why won’t he just say it, why play shifty? When the President says, “You can keep your current health care if you want to,” there are clear and obvious implications for anyone who isn’t a simple, staunch Presidential apologist. I want to give the President the benefit of the doubt here, I’m going to grant that he’s not lying. So, what’s going on here?

In a case like this, where so much is at stake for so many, playing games with words is beneath the dignity and honor of the President.

A parting video of Congressman Roy Blunt (R-MO) asking a straight forward question of the congress & the President, would you enroll in the plan you are promoting?

6 COMMENTS
David Banks
July 22, 2009
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This is complete bull… It took me three minutes to go read the document. I suggest eveyone does the same. The bill outlines new insurance regulations… It then has a paragraph that outlines “grandfathered plans” meaning they dont have to meet the new regulations. This will apply to plans written before the bill goes into effect. The paragraph you are referencing, indicates that the plans will not be grandfathered and exempt from the new regulations if they are written after the date of the bills inaction.
It’s not even about the insureds, its about the insurance companies. They will have new guidelines for how they have to write policy, but are exempt from immediately changing all the policies that are currently in force. They must write policies that comform to the new guidelines after the bill is enacted and may not write new policies that are unconforming after it. Just that simple. Nothing like what you said here.

realityunwound
July 22, 2009
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I just don’t get it. Only in lib-world does what one says have no bearing on what one means. I need a liberal translator, then so I can figure out what things like “immediately” and “does not enroll… after the first day of… legislation” means. It’s this bizarro world. Crazy.

David Banks
July 22, 2009
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Thats me… I’m your lib translator. I’m telling you it doesn’t mean what you’re (and a few others) saying it does. It just means that insurers will have to abide by the new rules after the bill is enacted but done have to change existing policies. And to define “existing policies” it clarifies that insurers should not enroll people after the date of the bill.
Read that whole section of the bill, it’s just defining what “grandfathered” policies are.

David Banks
July 22, 2009
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Your post says “I’m going to grant that he’s not lying. So, what’s going on here?” This is the answer, it’s just an incorrect editorial fron the Investors Business Daily, whatever that is.

Breanna
July 31, 2009
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I just started reading your blog again and your titles alone crack me up! Good stuff. :)

SandyP
August 6, 2009
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Regardless of the semantics, even if one could in fact use their own insurance, I think the video said it best. The private insurer competing with the government would be like a mouse competing with an elephant. It isn’t going to happen!

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