Posted on 10/30/2013 7:36:14 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pushed back hard Wednesday against those hammering ObamaCare for forcing some patients out of their current insurance plans.
The House minority leader said the number of patients who will have to change plans under the law is small, and they will ultimately benefit by moving into new plans with better coverage.
"While you might like your old plan, what you're going to get under the new plan is that [it does] not discriminate on the basis of pre-existing conditions, does not deny you a key benefit like … maternal, mental health or prescription drug coverage and cannot drop you when you are sick," Pelosi said during a press conference in the Capitol.
"These are part of the 'patients' bill of rights,' which is a vast improvement over other plans."
Pelosi said the sharp rise in medical costs, combined with the transient nature of the individual insurance market, would eventually have forced people out of their individual plans – ObamaCare or none.
"No matter what people say about whether they like their plan or not, their plan was not going to be their plan," she said. "Everybody's premiums were going up."
Pelosi noted that only about 5 percent of Americans are enrolled in the individual plans most likely to fall short of ObamaCare's minimum benefit requirements. And within that group, she added, many patients will be able to keep their existing coverage because the new rules apply only to plans established or altered after the law was enacted.
"If you were in a plan in 2010 when the president said, 'If you're in a plan and you like your plan you can keep your plan,' you can [keep your plan]," Pelosi said. "If you've enrolled since then, you'll get a conversion letter."
The message mirrors that delivered Wednesday by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who told members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the law has been clear all along.
“If a person had a policy in place in March 2010, liked that plan, and the insurance company made no changes to disadvantage the consumer, those policies are in place, you keep your plan if you like it, and that goes on,” Sebelius testified.
In the run-up to the 2010 passage of his signature healthcare law, President Obama had said repeatedly that those who like their plans can keep them.
Yet as the deadline for the individual mandate gets closer, thousands of people have reportedly received notices that their current plans don't meet the requirements of the healthcare law, and they'll have to switch into more robust coverage.
Republicans have jumped at the news, accusing the Democrats of breaking their promises and citing the shift in coverage as evidence that the underlying healthcare law is unworkable.
"Democrats knew that Americans would lose their healthcare, yet they continued to make false promises about ObamaCare to voters," the National Republican Senatorial Committee said Wednesday in an email blast.
On Tuesday, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the minority whip, rejected the notion that the Democrats misled the public when they pitched the Affordable Care Act. But the messaging, he acknowledged, "was not precise enough."
"Clearly, it should have been caveated with, 'Assuming you have a policy that, in fact, does do what the bill is designed to do,' " Hoyer said.
She just parrots The Punk’s lies.
SSDD
you can always rely on the Commie Hill to spread the latest Commie talking points.
In fact, the Hill just spit out Dem party Press Releases as news.
Isn’t this the same Pelosi who said that we had to pass the bill in order to find out what was in it?
Well, we are finding out what is in it and we do not like it.
The old we lied but it was for your own good, you are just to stupid to pick a insurance plan. Once again the it takes a village idiot party is on a rampage and we all have to suffer the decisions made by the village idiots.
Pelosi needs to start reaping the benefits of her plan’s mental health services.
Pinocchio Pelosi must think that rhinoplasty is covered by Obamacare. Her schnoz will grow exponentially with that whopper.
Evil monster Pelosi
A demon from hell walking the Earth
As lawyers they would be held in contempt of court.
A lying psychopath with power. Bad.
Who is going to pay for this new fancy plan, Master Nancy? Not all qualify for subsidies. Oh, let me guess...single payer? Everybody can have equally chitty healthcare. Yay. Quality will not be improving and availability will be for chit. Especially with the jackwagons we have running things now— they will spend healthcare money on green energy and bubblegum. What then?
Jackazzes.
The Pelosis of our grandparent’s era would have claimed that Treblinka was a summer camp for underprivileged Polish children.
Yeah, that maternity coverage is important to my wife and I... Several years ago I had a vasectomy, then subsequently for medical reasons my wife had a hysterectomy. So paying for maternity coverage, pretty much the definition of worthless.
““If a person had a policy in place in March 2010, liked that plan, and the insurance company made no changes to disadvantage the consumer, those policies are in place, you keep your plan if you like it, and that goes on,” Sebelius testified.”
This is a big, big lie! I just had my Medicare Advantage Ins cancelled outright. I have had the same Plan for 8 years! Minor changes to premiums based on their experience, but the benefits remained essentially static. Now the company says that I can have the “same plan” upgraded to ACA standards for triple the price. And the fact of the matter is that the “upgrades” mean nothing to me, so it would appear that all I am doing is subsidizing the bums.
Nancy expects us to believe her lying over the letters from our Insurance carriers.
Hey Nancy, that’s not thunder you are hearing in the distance. It’s millions of Pissed off Americans hell bent on kicking the Democrats in Congress out of Office.
I like what I had, Nancy Pants.
What I had was nothing, and I am going to keep nothing, because your boss said if I like what I have, I can keep it.
I’m holding him to his word.
Time to write Nan again....
Dear Nan,
20 Million people will have been kicked off of their Health Insurance, by January 1st, 2014.
One Year from that date, January 1st, 2015, Obamacare and the State Exchanges, will NOT have that many people enrolled.
We have read the bill, we know what’s in it, YOUR plan is a COLOSSAL DISASTER!!
The only true thing to come out of her mouth.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.