It was the biggest lie of the year: if you like your health care plan, you can keep it. It was one of the main selling points of the president’s health care overhaul, besides that the new law would cut costs. It hasn’t. To make things more intriguing, healthcare.gov has scrubbed references to the promise on their website, including whole sections on how you could keep your doctor under the Obamacare regime. Jeryl Bier of The Weekly Standard had more:
The original website contained a section entitled "Can I keep my own doctor?", later revised to "How to keep your doctor." A version of the website as of last October can be seen here:
Just before open enrollment began last year, however, this section was dropped. Now the same link takes users to a section entitled "How to pick a health insurance plan." (The internet address that contains the words "keep-your-doctor" redirects to an address ending with "plan-types.")
The closest the website comes to mentioning the president's "keep your doctor" commitment is, "To be certain your doctor is included in your plan's network, contact the plan or provider for the most up-to-date information."
It may be appropriate to tweak some aspects of the site, given that the entire law is on the verge of total collapse. The notion whether the law was meant to collapse on itself to pave way for single-payer health care has been a subject of debate among conservatives since the law was passed. Americans have been opting to remain uninsured and pay the penalty since it's more economical for them. The premiums for almost every plan, including the low-cost plans, have shot through the roof. So, yeah, I guess how I can see why the Obama’s speechwriters shared a nice laugh about the “you can keep it” promise. Disgusting.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member