Forbes’ Avik Roy says a hot Federal Register doc shows that the Obama administration knew the Affordable Care Act would wind up causing millions to lose their existing insurance. Alert Reader J., a Democrat and Obama voter, sends an email arguing that it’s not that bad. It’s worse!
“This is very disturbing. … The problem is not simply that he said one thing and then did the opposite, but rather that he knew when saying it the first times that the more young people kept their existing insurance coverage the harder it would be to control the costs of the increased coverage for older and more at-risk people under the new law. Thus he knew that the more he kept his promise the more trouble he could be in. And therefore it has to be said that he knew when he was promising that he would do his damndest to break the promise. He knew not only that it was not going to be true but also that he would be the chief actor in its not being true. This deserves not four Pinocchios, but eight, or fifteen, or fifty.”
Even that is not so bad. I assume that politicians do that all the time. “We seek no wider war”, for example, is comparable in mendacity and a lot more evil. What is breathtaking and really disturbing is that Obama has left himself no place to hide.” [Emphasis and link added]
I’m sure Valerie Jarrett has something brilliant up her sleeve. …
P.S.: The restrictive rules on “grandfathering” existing policies–issued by Obama’s HHS–seem to support “J” ‘s claim, though I assume a lot of insurance companies abandon non-conforming plans just because they cease to make much business sense (even if they fall within the “grandfather” rules). … [Backfill: See also Tim Carney] … Update: This report suggests the regulators thought they were making a “gradual” transition. Or at least that’s what they said they thought. …
Why didn’t Mitt Romney have this problem in Massachusetts again?