In the months prior to the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama assured Americans worried about losing their current health plan that this wouldn't be a problem once the healthcare reform law went into effect. In other words, if individuals like their coverage, they can keep it.
But a recent investigation suggests that the White House may have known all along that many people in the private market, as opposed to those who get employee benefits, would not be able to maintain their existing health policies.
NBC News recently reported that after consulting with four sources "deeply involved in the Affordable Care Act," the administration was advised that between 50 and 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who get their coverage on their own would not be able to keep it, mainly because they failed to satisfy the 10 essential health benefits provision of the ACA. This is the component of the health reform law that requires all insurance policies to have specific coverages included, such as ambulatory patient services, emergency services, hospitalization behavioral health treatment and prescription drugs, among others.
Robert Laszewski, a consultant for the organization Health Policy and Strategy Associates, indicated that this report suggests that the White House may have been less than forthcoming when it was first introduced to the public.
"This says that when they made the promise, they knew half the people in this market outright couldn't keep what they had and then they wrote the rules so that others couldn't make it either," Laszewski told NBC News.
Questioned about the discrepancy by reporters, Jay Carney, White House press secretary, indicated that only 5 percent or less of the country will have to enroll in a different plan than they have currently when the law goes into full effect in 2014.
