The words President Obama used to sell his signature initiative, Obamacare—”if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor”—may end up the most memorable of his eight years in office. But according to information posted on Healthcare.gov, this “guarantee” from the president was wholly without foundation.
In 2013, THE WEEKLY STANDARD first reported that the president’s promise was downgraded from “you can keep” to “you may be able to keep.” Later that year, Politifact named the broken promise the Lie of the Year. Even more recently, TWS reported that the Obamacare website removed a section on “how to keep your doctor.”
Now, Healthcare.gov admits that the promise was empty from the get-go. It turns out that the government website did not even ask insurers until 2015 which doctors were included in their plans, making it impossible for consumers to use the website to even know if they could possibly “keep” their doctors.
The admission is found under a section entitled “2016 health insurance plans & prices” (emphasis added) and becomes visible after users answer several preliminary inquires:
The following is a screen capture from Healthcare.gov:
Another message reads, “NEW – You can see if your doctors, medical facilities, and prescription drugs are covered.”
Although it has been almost a year since this portion of the website was added (for open enrollment for the 2016 coverage year), it is still in the testing phase, as the “BETA” notice indicates:
As pictured earlier, the site also includes this disclaimer: “In this early stage, some data may be missing or inaccurate. We’ll be updating it regularly.”
The Department of Health and Human Services has not yet replied to an inquiry about the status of the beta testing or the implications of the “first time” admission.
