What Does the President’s Promise “You’ll Be Able to Keep Your Health Care Plan, Period,” Really Mean?

President Obama also said in his press conference:
“As one of those options, for us to be able to say, here’s a public option that’s not profit-driven, that can keep down administrative costs, and that provides you good, quality care for a reasonable price as one of the options for you to choose, I think that makes sense.”
“Why would it drive private insurance out of business? If — if private — if private insurers say that the marketplace provides the best quality health care; if they tell us that they’re offering a good deal, then why is it that the government, which they say can’t run anything, suddenly is going to drive them out of business? That’s not logical.
“Now, the — I think that there’s going to be some healthy debates in Congress about the shape that this takes. I think there can be some legitimate concerns on the part of private insurers that if any public plan is simply being subsidized by taxpayers endlessly that over time they can’t compete with the government just printing money, so there are going to be some I think legitimate debates to be had about how this private plan takes shape.
“But just conceptually, the notion that all these insurance companies who say they’re giving consumers the best possible deal, if they can’t compete against a public plan as one option, with consumers making the decision what’s the best deal, that defies logic, which is why I think you’ve seen in the polling data overwhelming support for a public plan.”
President Obama is being totally disingenuous. He already admitted that the public plan would not be profit-driven. He knows that private insurance companies ARE profit-driven. They are in business to make money! So when the private companies say that “they’re giving consumers the best possible deal,” they mean staying within their own desired profit margins. Even if the federal government offered the exact same benefits as a particular private insurer, the federal government would charge significantly less for that coverage because it does not have to include a profit margin. Finally, the federal government has no intention of offering the same benefits. President Obama has already stated that there will be changes in the rules for offering insurance. These changes will drive up the prices that private insurers charge to even greater levels–making the federal government’s public option even more desireable.
The public option will be the death of private health insurance in American!

Sounds like Obama was being deliberately deceptive when he said “no one” would take away your current health plan. Why would he try to deceive us like that?

Reputable studies have shown that about 120 million people will have companies that shift to the public plan because of costs. So far the government is not offering any studies on how many jobs will be lost because employers cannot afford a mandated health care system.
The government is also being quiet about the inability of employers to hire new people because of the mandates in the stimulus package that exteneded health care and unemployment benefits… people do not seem to understand that employers face a lot of government imposed costs for each employee they hire…. sad. I’m tired of the class warfare tone out the WH. Employers are not the enemy. There are too many hidden costs and uncertainties for employers to start hiring.

What exactly does “under-insured” mean and who determines it?

Jennifer,
Many farmers are “underinsured.” They carry plans with enormous deductibles (thousands of dollars) that are in place in case of catastrophic illness.
In the meantime, they neglect routine care that falls under the deductible because they cannot afford the costs here and there for health maintenance. As a result, they are much more likely to encounter the very catastrophic situations that they are insured against.
However, they often find that even with such “coverage,” they still have to borrow money to pay for uncovered costs and lost work… or worse yet, they just go bankrupt.
You might argue that it is the farmer’s fault for taking such risks… but farmers usually don’t have enough money to spare 20,000$ for insurance.
Another example of “underinsurance” was that I was covered when my wife and I got married. We got pregnant with our first child, and discovered that the plan provided by my employer did not cover pregnancy. When we asked them what we should do, they handed us an application for state welfare. So, we went on the public plan.
Health care in the US needs radical reform. Right now, the insurance companies hold all the cards. And, apparently, they are now working to fill people’s heads with fear and half-truths….
just to continue milking the public.

Government healthcare is an oxymoron. The government runs the military that would gladly send you or your children to their death to further their aims.
Its actually good that we didnt invade Iran as if it were Iraq, otherwise we’d be blamed for it. Its pretty hypocritical of Obama to not make cigarettes illegal they are a far worse killer. He is just going to let tobacco companies do ‘business as usual’ except for a few advertisements and ruin the taste of cigarettes. Big tobacco will be allowed to continue to sell its poisonous muderous product that kills more people than Iran and both the wars in which we are still involved. Meanwhile marijuana something that would make jobs, is safer for your health to smoke, and is even used to help cancer patients is still 100% illegal federally. Making pot legal would put a 50% dent in the profit of Mexican drug cartels and yet Obama wont even consider it. Total hypocrisy.

“This is the big lie. Walk into any emergency room and they will treat you.”
This is what conservatives are talking about how to fix health care.
Let the people who can afford it go to a doctor when they want to.
Everyone else, just run to the emergency room at the point of dying, pay thousands of dollars for cheap procedure, and then fight with collection agencies for years and years until you file bankruptcy.
We HAVE rationed care right now. It’s rationed on the basis of wealth. People with means go to the doctor on a regular basis…. poor people (and their children) don’t go at all. (Unless of course, they are on their death bed).
One of my friends had pneumonia for 3 months (he always said, “Oh, I just have a cough. I just need to rest.”) Eventually, he collapse and went to the ER… and they had to treat all these other complications….
Why? He couldn’t afford to go to the doctor… so he put it off.
My dad had a spinal condition. He thought he was “getting old.” Well, eventually, his “old age” took a sudden turn for the worse and he was hauled off in an ambulance for an emergency surgery. It was enormously expensive…. he ended up paralyzed… and he lost his minimum wage job… and ended up living on disability anyway! BUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN TREATED. HE COULD HAVE LIVED OUT HIS REMAINING YEARS WORKING, PAYING TAXES, AND FEELING HEALTHY. Instead, he had to “ration” his healthcare to keep up with his bills… and suffered because of it.

Why must the government trump our right to make a good or bad decision when it comes to our personal health?
My wife and I both work hard and decided to get the best health insurance plan for our family that we could afford. We made a decision based on our reality and we budget our lives accordingly. Once Government gets involved our choices will be reduced. It always happens.
Competition for profit is part of the human reality and I want to pay more if I know it will be the best doctor for my kids. Let me make that decision.
And what about the common good? The great majority of people agrees that we need to help the ones that need help, but not subsidy entire lives. Thousands abuse the system now (housing, etc.), government involvement will only make it worst -in the name of compassion.

The Presidents promise that” you’ll be able to keep your health care plan,period”,means absolutely nothing.He also promised the Stimulus bill would not have any earmarks,promised the middle class no increase in taxes while at the same time promoting CAP and Trade which will hit everyone.The truth is not in him.

“See, this way, the government can steer everyone toward government administered health-care and blame the private sector for abandoning private insurance when it becomes unaffordable. ”
Newsflash! Private insurance IS unaffordable for too many. And many more with each passing year.

I am not American. I grew up in a country with Socialized medicine. Trust me, put down the cup of Kool-Aid. My mother, I was twelve, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, she was scheduled for “surgery and treatment” in six months. She did not survive her wait for six month away surgery and treatment. I know BOO HOO me. But, I am telling you first hand. Do not do this to your children or yourself.

Thanks James Danley for finding those facts. I was looking for them myself.
I have no doubt that the system is not perfect. I also have no doubt that many people say they can’t afford hc insurance – but still seem to find the money to buy cigarettes, eat breakfast at the local mini-mart, go out drinking, and buy a big screen tv on credit.
I just don’t see why creating another govt agency has to be the only solution. Unless it’s not really about healthcare…

This is just another attempt on Obama’s part to move to a solcialistic based government. First he takes over the banking industry, then its automobiles, followed by the school systems and tobacco industries and now its health care. The statement “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.” is a snake (oil) in the grass at most. What it means is that if the insurance companies don’t buckle down and follow the government’s decrees, they will put the insurance companies out of business and totally run health care on a socialized medicine basis.

Obama wants to insinuate the government into every aspect of your life. From you health care, your car, your bank, your salary. He’s power hungry. His talk of transparancy and reconciliation is bogus. He lies about everything. It is the fool who believes him on this. How would you like to be rolled in for surgery and open your eyes and see the gal from the DMV standing over you.
Listen to people who have socialized medicine. Mediocraty evenly distributed.

If the health care system is broke in this country, why are so many foreigners coming for medical care? Do you actually think that by insuring the 42 million uninsured in this country will fix or correct the problem? And, people wonder why the housing bubble burst because taxpayers are paying for the home loans of people who can’t afford to buy a home much less pay off a home loan.

Let the people who can afford it go to a doctor when they want to.
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LOL….go north of the border….see just how fast you get to see a doctor!
The devil’s always in the details people! You have not heard exactly how these costs are going to be controlled. If an Xray was $X last year and its $Y this year, Is Obama going to just decree its going to be 1/2 of Y next year? You have not seen a schedule from ANYONE’s plan for you to compare premimums Vs coverages…and no one is telling you how much more money is going to sucked out of your pocket to pay for this beast!
At some point this thing is going to have to tell you your going to pay so much for your plan, what ever it might be. Then its going to have to tell you that your allowed a specific amout for an X-Ray, or a doctors visit, or the setting of a broken arm…etc
In the gov’ts plan, WHO is going to set the numbers? WHO is going to deny your claim when you (or the doctor) submits a bill for more than your plan covers? How is the government going to get hospitals, doctors, & rehab centers across the country to accept THEIR payment structures?

“If the health care system is broke in this country, why are so many foreigners coming for medical care?”
If the health care system is so great why are there so many Americans traveling to foreign countries for medical care?
Medical tourism is a two way street.

MacGhil peels back the cloudy veneer on this in his comment upthread – WHY ARE CONGRESS AND ALL FEDERAL EMPLOYEES EXCEMPT from this?
Answers anyone? Obama? Pelosi? Hmmm?

“I can guarantee you that there’s the possibility for a whole lot of Americans out there that they’re not going to end up having the same health care they have.”
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LOL….there’s a great possibility that for a whole lot of Americans out there that they wont have the same job or any job next year!
For the vast majority of Americans, when they do switch employers (for whatever reason) their health plans usally change in same way!

Its very simple. If the government can not operate Medicare or Medicaid now because of rising costs how on earth can they possibly operate even a larger system? And why isn’t a reporter asking this question?

Obama’s promise re keeping health care means NOTHING, Jake, similar to all of Obama’s promises that do not relate to attacking America on foreign soil.

“In my opinion, it was very disrespectful that he would call someone a “Period.” Very vulgar.”
No, the word is “arrogant”, “condescending” perhaps. He wants to end the debate now because he thinks he’s solved the health care crisis, when evidence worldwide disputes it. Obama is a punk who hasn’t owned a business or run a corporation and he’s made a living in that politically corrupt cesspool in Chicago.

“He wants to end the debate now because he thinks he’s solved the health care crisis, when evidence worldwide disputes it.”
Worldwide evidence strongly suggests that nationalized healthcare systems are superior to our own and cheaper.

Personally, I think that Obama wants to eventually control everyone’s healthcare so that the govt can then start making coverage decisions for the elderly and disabled who will then not “qualify” for the requested procedure/medicine/care. (I believe this was spelled out in the Stimulus Plan). This will reduce the population in those groups, thus reducing the costs of Medicare and Social Security. It’s the only way to save those programs. People are living way too long for those programs to survive and they cannot possibly eliminate the programs (political suicide). So the only answer is to control people’s longevity.
Good example. My father-in-law received his second bypass surgery at 73, got pneumonia and spent 6 weeks in ICU in a medically induced comma. He eventually recovered and lived another 10 years. Under Obamacare, he would have been denied the surgery and not survived. THAT’s the cost the govt needs to eliminate and they can only do it after they control it all.
So all your lofty reasons why universal health care is being pushed? Total bull. Don’t believe any of it.

Oh, Wah! Deal, people! We ALL voted for him, so lets just give him the opportunity to see what he can do. Surely you didn’t think that we could continue in the manner that we were going in for the last 8 years!!!! I work my patooty off for my family and my company decided that for family coverage it was going to go up to 6k a year. Are you kidding???? What is the point of health insurance. Unless I or one of my children get hit by a bus, I’m throwing money into the garbage. I NEED REFORM!
Thank you, Obama for helping people like me. No one has ever helped someone like me.

brandy l …WE ALL DID NOT VOTE FOR HIM. LIKE IRAN, WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO DISAGREE WITH THE CHOICE YOU MADE.46% of the country said NO BAMA.

Brandy L, you’re assuming that the public plan will be cheaper with the same quality of care. Big assumption on your part. You’re also assuming that the govt will be able to run the plan without suuporting it with your taxes which is highly likely. You’ll be paying one way or the other. And then you’ll be complaining again. It’s time to realize the govt can’t save you.

“Oh, Wah! Deal, people! We ALL voted for him…Thank you, Obama for helping people like me. No one has ever helped someone like me.”
Talk about Waaah! “Poor, pitiful me needs saving! Help me ObiWan…”
No, “we ALL” didn’t vote for him. Deal.

David Gratzer is NOT my Congressman and writes for the respected City Journal:

t roc….one last point…make more doctors…US doctors…not foreign transplants. expand our US medical schools.

“i have worked annualy in canada over 15 years on assignments there. most people think the U.S. is much better.”
Many Canadians think the health care system in the United States serves only those with money or coverage. Many Canadians think millions of people are not covered under american health care.
Most Canadians certainly do not think the U.S. system is better, nor did they want to invade Iraq. Afghanistan yes, Iraq no.

Jake,
I’m sorry ,he was so mean to you today.
Good question Jake.

“keep your plan and keep your doctor”…..just don’t expect the same services, approval for treatment or ability for ‘special’ tests.

Great work here Jake. Allow me to paraphrase your question for you, ‘if healthcare passes and my employer cuts my wages, doesn’t that mean you’ve broken you’re promise’.
Just, let me see if a different explanation to Obama’s helps clear it up any: the only component of health care reform not utterly superfluous to employer’s decisions about what plan they will provide their employee is whether or not to tax benefits. Since a public plan was what was the target of that question, it’s entirely a non-sequitur.
Let me explain: Generally speaking, if an employer decides to change plans it will do so either to cut costs or to improve benefits for its employees (ask yourself why employers provide health care in the first place if this statement sounds remotely controversial to you. It’s not.). If they are doing it for the latter reason than clearly employees will be pleased about the move. If they are doing it for the former reason and the value of the plan to the employee doesn’t change, then by definition the employee won’t give a damn. If on the other hand they change it to a plan of lesser value to the employees- a public plan or a private plan, the latter of which happens all the time already- than that is just a wage cut by another name.
This is a free market system. If employees wages are falling, then they are going to fall whether or not a public plan is part of health care reform. This is an uncontroversial undeniable statement.
Next time you decide to ask a health care question, do yourself a favor and vet it first with someone with half a clue about the subject matter.

Parallel_Lax view . . .
Sounds like a typical emergency room in many hospitals (with or without the language issues). I am a little surprised at armed guards but perhaps that is becoming the norm too.

Is it REALLY as bad in other parts of the country, or is it just the border states. Doesn’t every hospital have armed guards as gate keepers???..I do believe that something has too be done to control health care costs..I think any sane person would agree with that..but if you open up government run HMO’s without limits as to who receives free services at the expense of those who are paying for it..well just look toward California’s budget problems for a look at the rest of the Country’s future…

I am a democrat and i did not vote for obama. i am confused. i am particularly confused about this discussion. is the problem that people don’t have insurance? so buy insurance. is the problem that there are not enough doctors? then pass out the visas and get the indian doctors and the philippina nurses in here. i don’t need insurance. i am healthy. if i need a doctor i go to one and i pay him $200. how hard is that?

Barack Obama is utterly incapable of telling the truth.
Whatever he says, the opposite always comes to pass.

Barack Obama is utterly incapable of telling the truth.
Whatever he says, the opposite always comes to pass.
Posted by: drjohn
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THANK YOU!! I’ve noticed that too. This President is very cunning and can even keep a straight face when he’s lying to the people. Unbelievable.

Obama’s past is preface to the future. His words now are meaningless drivel. In the past Obama wanted redistribution of wealth. In the past Obama stated clearly and definitively that he wanted a single payer health care system. His aides admnit that Obama’s promise to keep a private option is only a charade to keep doctors at the bargaining table. In the past Obama stated that cap and trade would cause electric rates to skyrocket.
That is the real Obama.
What he says now is garbage.

Yes OH, except for he hasn’t raised any taxes on that group. If he did, let’s see the proof.

Obama has been entirely consistent. If you don’t believe that, the Prez will surely tell you so–just like with his “consistent” condemnation of Iran, transparency policies, position on detainees and the war on terror, and promises on employment and the stimulus. If Obama says it, it must be so.

Parallex View – Problem was you were dressed wrong. Next time wear an ICE shirt & hat and watch how fast you become the front of the line.

Question to Obama for tomorrow night, on Health Care~
Why do you continue to push this “Health Care” charade when there has NEVER been a socialized health care system, within the ENTIRE world, that worked?

Joe~
He’s not ANYBODY’S President, he wasn’t born in the U.S. and therefore, is not President.

This President is incapable of being honest. Everything that comes out of his mouth is deceiving. He always sounds fair, but what he actually does and supports is the opposite of what he says. The Hypocrite in Cheif.
Also, This Cap and Trade(TAX) is a huge scam and is being voted on this Friday! New taxes will be priced into Everything we buy and our Electric bill. Call/email your Senetors and Congress representative and tell them to “Vote NO” on Cap and Trade

Note to ABC News: read these comments. Pay attention to the opinions of your readers. Watch what happens to your ratings when you explore the depths of media bias.
Will there be a single person on the Obamacare special asking questions like, “How do you expect to reduce healthcare costs, when Medicare spending has increased ~30% faster than private spending on a per-person basis?” and “Where in the Constitution do you find a delegation of power to the federal government to institute a health insurance program?”

The only way to win the war between Free Men and this Fascist Government is to give the Democrats *everything* they want. When they turn America into a third world nation they will have destroyed only themselves. We will still be here. It’s just the natural cycle of Birth, Life, Decline and Death. All hail 0bama, bringer of Death.
ROFLMAO@serfs…

We’ve heard about the 47 million people without health insurance. This is the impetus for taking over the health industry. What they don’t tell you is that about 43% of those people can afford insurance but they choose not to buy it. Many of the others are temporarily uninsured. Those who can’t afford insurance or health care have medicare or medicaid and rest are illegals who are never denied critical care.
Why in the world would we change the entire system to cover ALL of us when only a relative few (10%) need help?
Why would we change to a more costly, inferior care system without at least trying market reforms that would cost nothing?
If most of us weren’t forced into employer paid health insurance, if we could buy insurance across state lines, if we could pay only for the insurances services we need, we wouldn’t be talking about a health cost crisis.
For example, why should men have to pay for pregnancy benefits? Why shouldn’t we be allowed to shop around for the best deal in insurance?
If health care costs were more reasonable, we might only have to purchase insurance for catastrophic illness or accidents. In fact, many doctors are quitting the whole insurance merry-go-round and giving deals to patients who pay cash.
The middle man always costs more. If we can get away from using insurance to pay for routine care, we’ll save a lot of money.
Here’s the crux of the issue: There is no incentive for the government to truly reduce costs. Unlike businesses,
all they have to do is loot more taxes from us and force it upon us. Businesses must, in order to survive, compete by providing the best services for the least costs. The government has no competition and doesn’t have to provide quality service at the best cost.
Why would we entrust our health care to an entity that maintains operations that lose money hand over fist – The Postal Service, Amtrak, etc.
Why would we want to give MORE money to a government that wastes untold billions – some of which goes to studies about why men don’t like to wear condoms. Or how much methane is in cow farts. Or some building with politicians name on it. On and on.
Why would we trust a President who bought a car company with our money just to pay back the Unions who helped him get elected?
Why would we add government health “care” when we can’t even pay for the services we currently have like Social Security and Medicare that are unfunded by trillions?
It makes NO sense to me.

Logic clearly dictates that tne needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. This president is a pathological liar and a elitist. He tries to pander for personal popularity. The next thing you know he will be shaving his head if things don’t go his way.

Sounds to me like you people have not had any major illnesses. There are people who cannot afford insurance because the rates are so high due to a pre-existing condition. So they file for divorc to be able to get Medicaid that your tax dollars are paying for already.

I believe that Obama can do some changes.

Wow…most of these comments are terrifying. Not terrifying in a “good way” but terrifying in a “I can’t believe I live in the same country as these paranoid schizophrenic people way”. I put up with George Bush for 8 long years…quit whining because you have to put up with Obama. That is how a democracy works…sometimes your guy loses.

For those of you out there who have health care already or are providing it to your employees of course you see no problem with our health care as it is today! But what about those who have no health care. It’s not about you and you alone! it’s about those who are dying on the streets who can’t even walk into a hospital and get the appropriate care because of people in this countrys greed. You can go to any other country and receive the proper care immediatley without having to do as much as give your name and in order for us to that if I have to pay a few more dollars in taxes I would rather it go to helping another than into the pockets of the greedy. I work in the health care industry. I do all the billing to the insurance companies and they spend more time trying to get out of paying then anything else! They are not worried about patients receiving care and getting better. It’s all about $$$. Our health care system is not working for all of us only those who can afford it! That’s rediculous, we were once the country that everyone envyed now we are the most feared and greedy country! That is not because of President Obama it’s because we aloud a crook to run this country for 8 years!!!! Health care reform is not going to hurt us, it is going to help us. It’s going to show that there are still people out there that care about others. It will be the begining of refacing our defaced country! We should stand by each other not step over the dying man on the street!