The 5% Solution

The President and others in his Administration, as well as many in the media, persist in stating that the grandfather rule issue involving the cancellation of healthcare insurance policies only impacts the 5% of Americans who have individual policies.  The government estimates that 7 to 10.5 million of these people will lose their coverage.

But worse, it is a continued and deliberate "incorrect promise" (to use the Orwellian terminology of the NY Times).  As THC pointed out recently, the majority of all healthcare plans, individual and group, small business and large business, are expected to be non-compliant with Obamacare by the end of 2013 and thus lose grandfather status.

Just as a reminder, here is one example of many times the President made his "incorrect promise".  This was at the Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association on June 15, 2009 where he stated:

“no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: 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. My view is that health care reform should be guided by a simple principle: fix what’s broken and build on what works.”  

Further evidence of this deliberate deception can be found in the brief filed by the US Department of Justice (which, THC believes, is still part of the Administration) on October 17, 2013 in Priests for Life v Department of Health & Human Services.  The case revolves around the Administration's insistence that religious institutions must have insurance plans that, directly or indirectly, provide contraceptive and abortion services to employees regardless of religious objections.  The plaintiffs seek a permanent exemption from those provisions of the law.  In arguing that the exemption sought by the plaintiffs undermines the government's interests the DOJ dismisses the significance of the temporary exemption granted to insurance plans in general (at page 27):

And, unlike the permanent exemption plaintiffs seek for employers that object to the regulations on religious grounds, the grandfathering provision's incremental transition does not undermine the government's interests in a significant way [Citations omitted].  Even under the grandfathering provision, it is projected that more group health plans will transition to the requirements under the regulations as time goes on.  Defendants [Department of Health & Human Services] have estimated that a majority of group health plans will have lost their grandfather status by the end of 2013 [Citations omitted].  Thus, any purported adverse effect on the compelling interests underlying the regulations will be quickly mitigated, which is in stark contrast to the permanent exemption plaintiffs seek.

What this means in English is that the termination of most individual and group plans has been a "compelling" government interest "in a significant way" ever since the passage of the law.  It is part of the design of Obamacare, not a flaw.

What we are seeing are not "unintended consequences" of the law; they are the intended consequences.

Oh, by the way, how's the "you will be able to keep your doctor" part of that promise going?  Not too well, according to today's Washington Post.