Let's begin with a verbatim quote from President Obama from July of 2009, touting the legislative perfection that would be Obamacare:
“If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what.”
This unambiguous, clearly-stated pledge was demonstrably false when it was first uttered and has remained so to this day. The latest piece of evidence, via the Associated Press (headline: "Like Your Healthcare Policy? You May Be Losing It"):
Many people who buy their own health insurance could get surprises in the mail this fall: cancellation notices because their current policies aren't up to the basic standards of President Barack Obama's health care law. They, and some small businesses, will have to find replacement plans — and that has some state insurance officials worried about consumer confusion. Also, it doesn't seem to square with one of the president's best known promises about his health care overhaul: "If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan." ... The Obama administration did not respond directly to questions about the potential fallout from cancellation notices ... For the most part, state insurance commissioners are giving insurers the option of canceling existing plans or changing them to comply with new federal requirements.
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"Canceling" and "changing" do not equal "keeping," which was the promise. The CBO estimated last year that up to 20 million Americans could lose their current coverage under Obamacare. Other projections peg the number at 35 million, or more. With the media focused on the administration's myriad scandals, the president is gearing up for yet another public relations tour on behalf of the law that he never sold to the public, despite delivering dozens of speeches. His new plan? More speeches, natch, plus plenty of taxpayer-funded propaganda. If your presidency were sagging beneath the weight of scandal, and your top legislative accomplishment remained enduringly unpopular with the public, to whom would you turn for help? If your instant reply was "Nancy Pelosi," you're in luck. Have fun with this, Democrats:
A document circulated to House Democrats by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — and obtained by BuzzFeed — offers some details of the timing of the health-care plan: Rates and details of plans will become public in September for the 34 states that haven’t put together their own plans. The goals, Pelosi writes in a “dear colleague” letter that begins the document, are “to educate our constituents about the new law, help to implement it, and strengthen the hands of those who have worked for this historic reform.”
Pelosi's guide to finally selling Obamacare runs 78 pages long, which sounds a bit unwieldy until you remember what they're trying to summarize (while editing out all the bad news). But don't panic, Democrats. Follow your super-popular leader's game plan, and everything should be fine.
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