A month before the final passage of his health care law, President Obama convened a summit the Blair House. During the staged event, which was aimed at resurrecting the bill, he touted the legislation’s insurance exchanges. Obama said, “[I]f you join one of these exchanges, you will have choice and you’ll have competition. You will have a menu of private insurance options that you’ll be able to purchase … ”

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, who authored one of the bills that would eventually become Obamacare, concurred: “What I like about exchanges — it’s like Orbitz, it’s like Expedia. You go to Orbitz or Expedia to buy an airline ticket, you compare it to get the best price — that’s basically what this is.”