Friday, November 01, 2013
When quoting cautious Norwegians, Garrison Keillor, the St.
Paul raconteur, makes common use of the word “mostly;” as in “Lutherans are hard-working
people, mostly.”
If President Obama had followed that pattern when promoting
his healthcare reform bill, he would have said something like “People who like
their present health care insurance policies can keep them, mostly.”
But he left off the qualifier. For that he is getting the
Pinocchio award. And deservedly so.
Actually, what he should have said to be completely forthcoming
was that people who like their present health care insurance policies can keep
them, if they continue to be offered
by the insurance company. The
Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, prescribes the basic benefits that
health insurance policies must cover, but it exempts policies that were in
effect at the time the law was passed.
As it happens, however, insurance companies change their
policies frequently –notifying subscribers by means of unintelligible documents
sent in the mail - and so by now, some three years later, many of the policies that
were grandfathered have been modified and have lost their exemption. A common reason for not meeting requirements
is that the benefits are too skimpy, meaning that policies that qualify for
approval offer more coverage and often cost more.
That may give the President a technical out, but does not
let him off the hook, in my opinion.
.
