President Obama may have given his #sorrynotsorry apology for people losing their health insurance, despite his assurances to the contrary, but that’s not enough according to former President Bill Clinton.
In a rather off-message interview, Clinton called on Obama to alter the law to allow people to keep the insurance plans they have if they so choose.
Reports Business Insider:
Former President Bill Clinton said in an interview published Tuesday that President Barack Obama should make sure Americans can keep their existing health plans, even if that means tweaking the Affordable Care Act.
“I personally believe, even if it takes a change to the law, the president should honor the commitment the federal government made to those people and let them keep what they got,” Clinton told the site OZY in the interview.
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) has introduced a bill that the House will vote on later this week. It would “grandfather” in all health insurance plans that existed as of Jan. 1, 2013, not March 23, 2010, meaning that insurers could continue to offer a number of plans that they have been forced to cancel under the Affordable Care Act.
Clinton preceded his comments by telling the story of a man he met last week, who he said doesn’t qualify for subsidies because he makes more than 400% above the federal poverty level. He has a wife and two children, and Clinton said his policy was canceled and replaced by one that doubled his premium.
“They are the ones who heard the promise, ‘If you like what you’ve got, you can keep it,'” Clinton said.
Here in Colorado, our two Democrat U.S. Senators promised Coloradans they could keep their insurance if they wanted, so in a way Clinton is also calling on them to fix their broken promise to the quarter million Coloradans who have had their insurance cancelled as of November 1.
Senator Bennet may have told The Colorado Observer he ‘can’t recall’ making that promise, but the video and transcript of his promise still sit on his own website. Senator Udall has so far remained mum on his broken promise.
The pressure from the Big Dog will make remaining mum much longer a near impossibility.