Posted on 11/09/2013 5:18:13 PM PST by Libloather
House Republicans are pouncing on President Obama’s apology for cancelled insurance plans to push him into backing legislation that would change ObamaCare.
The president on Thursday said he was “sorry” that Americans were losing their healthcare plans despite his frequent assurances that individuals with insurance could keep them.
Obama said he was seeking an administrative fix, but Republicans say they have a ready-made solution in the Keep Your Plan bill that they plan to bring up for a vote next week.
A spokesman for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the president can’t address the problems plaguing the healthcare law through executive action alone. He said Obama should back the House bill, which would grandfather in all health insurance plans that existed as of Jan. 1, 2013.
"We are highly skeptical that there is anything the president can do administratively to keep his pledge that would be both legal and effective," said Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck.
"That’s why he should work with Congress and support bipartisan legislation that fulfills his promise and allows insurance companies to continue offering the plans that so many Americans like and can afford.”
The bill puts Obama in a tough spot.
Democrats have stood firm against major changes to the healthcare law since it was passed, fearing it would open the door to a slew of attacks Republicans designed to cripple it.
But Democratic unity is cracking amid the troubled rollout of the healthcare law.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) has introduced a similar "Keep Your Plan" bill in the Senate with the support of fellow Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.).
Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), who is facing a tough reelection race in 2014, endorsed the “Keep Your Plan” late Thursday along with Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), who is also up next year. Other vulnerable Democrats could follow suit.
Obama, for his part, didn’t rule out supporting the House bill when he was asked about it on Thursday.
"We're looking at a range of options," Obama said.
The White House might have to reject the House bill because of the impact it could have on ObamaCare.
The legislation could reduce the number of healthy young Americans purchasing comprehensive plans, potentially driving up costs for sicker individuals seeking insurance on the ObamaCare exchanges.
But Republicans sense they have an advantage now that Obama has conceded the healthcare law is in need of repair.
“If the president is sincerely sorry that he misled the American people, the very least he can do is support this bipartisan effort,” Boehner said in a statement Thursday night. “Otherwise, this apology doesn’t amount to anything.”
The White House has been thrown on the defensive by the fallout from the “keep your plan” promise, and has been struggling to respond as millions of Americans have received letters informing them that their plans have been dropped.
The issue dogged the president even as he traveled to New Orleans Friday for an event on infrastructure and the economy. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu (D) told reporters on a White House conference call Thursday that he supported the Keep Your Plan bill.
Obama is clearly looking to repair the damage, and on Thursday said he’s “assigned my team to see what we can do to close some of the holes and gaps in the law.”
But it's unclear where the administration will go from here.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Friday said the administration hopes to assist people whose health insurance is canceled, but has “no specific option right now,” according to Reuters.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest similarly refused on Friday to detail what type of administrative solutions were in the works.
“They can’t make any adjustments to this law, it will fall apart and they know it!”
This is it essentially. The scheme is creaky and fragile as it is so start jiggering with any of it’s various parts and the whole things starts to wobble out of its axis. We may need no new bill when one considers the Obamacare website. It will not be functioning anywhere near 100% on 12/1 so all of the deadlines set will crumble away as they can’t possibly be met.
It’s a gawd dammed clusterfark and there’s no way other to describe it.
Oh, and, Barry can’t run from this. He simply can’t.
We’ll see him break publicly over this. The remainder of his Presidency will be plagued with the omnipresent issue of millions of Americans without health insurance as the result of governmental action. It will loom large and loud.
Ouch.
You know you're f***ed as a President when the most spineless weenie Speaker in recent memory has the cojones to say something like that.
Mark my words. Obama and his fellow travelers in Congress are going to be all in on repealing this disastrous legislation before this is all over.
To do otherwise, is to consign their party to death.
I'm not sure they can rewind everything that's transpired to this point. The damage to the health care industry is moving at light speed.
Republicans should do absolutely nothing to help with correcting the pain of Obamacare. They should insist on its full implementation now, for everyone including government workers. They should also say they will kill Obamacare when they have a veto proof majority in the Senate.
Obama made it, let him and the Senate live with it or die politically due to their actions.
I hope on the golf course he thanked the Libyan ambassador and the other three men who died so quietly so he could be reelected.
If the congressional Republicans settle for anything other than complete repeal of this monstrosity, then they will die along with their 'friends across the aisle'.
It's time to put this thing on Cruz control.
It's partially just partisan politics as usual, but mostly the latter. Obamacare was always too fantastical to work in the real world. The Republicans knew this, but they were in the minority, and couldn't convince the Dems of their folly. They wisely stepped back and let the Dems seal their fate.
How are they going to resurrect plans that have already been canceled? What are they going to do to allow companies to keep their plans as they were, without all the costs involved with complying with Obamacare?
I don’t see how such legislation is even workable, within the context of Obamacare existing. The only solution is to get rid of it completely.
It's pretty obvious that passing legislation that allows existing plans to remain in force would essentially kill Obamacare. Without the responsible, tax paying middle class (and the young heathies) to pay for this thing, it crumbles into useless pieces.
What if the plan you liked was 'no plan'? Millions of Americans roll that way. Putting the individual's power of choice back into the equation fundamentally undoes the basic transformation of the citizens' relationship inherent in Obamacare - which was sort of the point all along.
Bottom line.....Obama and his Communist cronies thought they could turn 240 years of American history and ingrained culture on its head with one vote of Congress. They're quickly finding out that they made an enormous blunder. Had they simply kept to their Socialist forerunners' strategy of slow incremental change, none of this backlash would be happening.
That's only how it looks from the outside, and through the filter of the protective media. On the inside, they're in a terror that can only be compared to a psychotic break, or a bad LSD trip.
Yep!
That's becoming clearer by the hour. The smarter Dems are already trying to get out ahead of the fast approaching political realizations about this historic boondoggle.
"Nix it - don't fix it!"
Interesting how that's worked out, isn't it?
I've been down on Roberts since he rendered his opinion on Obamacare, but there certainly is a kind of serendipitous outcome developing because of his decision.
He could have saved the country all this turmoil, but in hindsight, maybe it's better that he didn't. The Commies could wind up in the wilderness for decades because of Obamacare.
That's an outcome I can live with :-)
Mark my words. Obama and his fellow travelers in Congress are going to be all in on repealing this disastrous legislation before this is all over.To do otherwise, is to consign their party to death.
Precisely.
Remind them: "It's settled law. Get over it."
No delays. No modifications. Forward!
No delays. No modifications. Forward!
LOL!
Sorry, but I can't help it. I'm having such a good time watching this historic boondoggle unfold. The left has had this coming for such a long time. I can't lie -- I'm really enjoying watching them squirm in their self-created fire.
I thought this too at first blush. As weak and feckless as the Republican leadership is, they might have accidentally stumbled onto something. The biggest complaint I hear is that this will give Democrats breathing room for the election. Well I been hearing about the cancellations for the last month or two. They are for 2014.
Guess what, when do you think the employer and new single policy cancellations will be out next year if delayed? If you said October / November you’d be right. All the pain the Democrats feel now will be brought forth right before the next election. I know RINOs are too stupid to see this on their own but I support the delay even if it does not change too much.
“Obama is clearly looking to repair the damage, and on Thursday said he’s “assigned my team to see what we can do to close some of the holes and gaps in the law.”
TRANSLATION. Valerie told me to say that.
r
Let’s not snatch defeat from the jaws of defeat.
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