On July 28, 2009, newly elected President Obama made a “guarantee” during an AARP town hall pushing the then-newly introduced Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare:
The White House even went so far as to post a “reality check” featuring and reiterating the president’s promise when critics began to warn of the consequences of the new legislation. According to the White House, the reality check “debunk[ed] the myth that reform will force you out of your current insurance plan.” (The “reality check” was deleted from the White House website in early 2016; a cached version is here.)
Beginning in 2013, the administration began to publicly waffle on the pledge, admitting on the Obamacare website that “you may be able to keep your current doctor.” Then, just last month, THE WEEKLY STANDARD reported that the website no longer even addresses the question of keeping a doctor under Obamacare.
Now as some states—Hawaii in 2016 and Kentucky in 2017—are abandoning their state-based exchanges and moving to the federally run Healthcare.gov site, it turns out the “keep your plan” promise doesn’t even apply to those already enrolled in Obamacare.
According to the federal government, Kentucky had received nearly $300 million in grants to set up a state-based exchange.) But as soon as he assumed office, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin began shutting down the state’s health insurance website to eliminate redundancy since the federal website was already serving the same purpose.
Now as Healthcare.gov welcomes new enrollees from the Bluegrass State this year, users are warned that their current plan may no longer be available:
New enrollees at the federal exchange from Hawaii for 2016 received a similar message: “Your 2015 plan, or one similar to it, may or may not be available… Your 2015 coverage ended December 31, 2015, no matter when you enrolled or last updated your information.”
Open enrollment for all states using the federal site begins November 1st. Kentucky residents will join those from Hawaii and three-quarters of the remaining states and find out whether the plan they like is indeed available.
