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 The administrative changes are good for just one year, though
senior administration officials said they could be extended if
problems with the law persist. Obama announced the changes at the
White House.
"This fix won't solve every problem for every person, but it's going
to help a lot of people," the president said.
He acknowledged that "we fumbled the rollout of this health care
law" and pledged to "just keep on chipping away at this until the
job is done."
He also promised to work to regain the trust of the American people.
"I think it's legitimate for them to expect me to have to win back
some credibility on this health care law in particular and on a
whole range of these issues in general," he said.
Obama has been under enormous pressure from congressional Democrats
to give ground on the cancellation issue under the health care
overhaul, a program likely to be at the center of next year's
midterm elections for control of the House and Senate.
It's unclear what the impact of Thursday's changes will be for the
millions of people who have already had their plans canceled. While
officials said insurance companies will now be able to offer those
people the option to renew their old plans, companies are not
required to take that step.
The main industry trade group, America's Health Insurance Plans,
said Obama's offer comes too late and could lead to higher premiums,
since companies already have set 2014 rates based on the assumption
that many people with individual coverage will shift over to the new
markets created under Obama's law.
Karen Ignagni, president of the industry group, didn't speculate on
whether companies would extend coverage for those threatened with
cancellation, but warned in a statement that "changing the rules
after health plans have already met the requirements of the law
could destabilize the market and result in higher premiums for
consumers."
Insurance companies will be required to inform consumers who want to
keep canceled plans about the protections that are not included
under those plans. Customers will also be notified that new options
are available offering more coverage and in some cases, tax credits
to cover higher premiums.
Under Obama's plan, insurance companies would not be allowed to sell
coverage deemed subpar under the law to new customers, marking a
difference with legislation that House Republicans intend to put to
a vote on Friday.
Only last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius told a Senate panel she doubted that retroactively
permitting insurers to sell canceled policies "can work very well
since companies are now in the market with an array of new plans.
Many have actually added consumer protections in the last
three-and-a-half years."
Republicans were unimpressed with the changes.
House Speaker John Boehner, speaking in advance of the president's
announcement, insisted it was time to "scrap this law once and for
all."
"You can't fix this government-run health care plan called Obamacare
," he said. "It's just not fixable."
Obama, for his part, made clear he would continue to fight ongoing
attempts to sink the whole program, saying, "I will not accept
proposals that are just another brazen attempt to undermine or
repeal the overall law and drag us back into a broken system."
"We're going to solve the problems that are there, we're going to
get it right, and the Affordable Care Act is going to work for the
American people," he pledged.
While the White House deals with the cancellation issue, the
administration is also promising improvements in a federal website
so balky that enrollments totaled fewer than 27,000 in October in 36
states combined. The administration had said in advance the
enrollment numbers would fall far short of initial expectations.
After weeks of highly publicized technical woes, they did.
Adding in enrollment of more than 79,000 in the 14 states with their
own websites, the nationwide number of 106,000 October sign-ups was
barely one-fifth of what officials had projected — and a small
fraction of the millions who have received private coverage
cancellations as a result of the federal law.
The administration said an additional 1 million people have been
found eligible to buy coverage in the markets, with about one-third
qualifying for tax credits to reduce their premiums. Another 396,000
have been found eligible for Medicaid, which covers low-income
people.
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Administration officials and senior congressional Democrats
expressed confidence in the program's future. "We expect enrollment
will grow substantially throughout the next five months," said
Sebelius, who is in charge of the program.
"Even with the issues we've had, the marketplace is working and
people are enrolling," she added.
Despite the expressions, the White House worked to reassure anxious
Democrats who are worried about the controversial program, which
they voted into existence three years ago over Republican opposition
as strong now as it was then.
Obama said he regretted the political grief he'd caused members of
his own party who'd backed him on the health care law.
"There is no doubt that our failure to roll out the Affordable Care
Act smoothly has put a burden on Democrats, whether they're running
or not, because they stood up and supported this effort through
thick and thin," he said.
Senate Democrats arranged a closed-door meeting for midday Thursday
in the Capitol with White House officials, who held a similar
session Wednesday with the House rank and file. Ahead of that
meeting, Obama planned to speak from the White House about new
efforts to help Americans receiving insurance cancellation notices.
So far, five Senate Democrats are on record in support of
legislation by Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., to make sure everyone can
keep their present coverage if they want to. The bill would require
insurance companies to continue offering existing policies, even if
they fall short of minimum coverage requirements in the law.
The measure has little apparent chance at passage, given that it
imposes a new mandate on the insurance industry that Republicans
will be reluctant to accept.
At the same time, a vote would at least permit Democrats to say they
have voted to repair some of the problems associated with the
Affordable Care Act, as many appear eager to do.
In a statement, Landrieu said Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Kay
Hagan of North Carolina and Mark Pryor of Arkansas were now
supporting the legislation, as is Sen. Dianne Feinstein of
California. All but Feinstein are on the ballot next year.
Across the Capitol, majority Republicans in the House set a vote for
Friday on legislation to permit insurance companies to continue
selling existing policies that have been ordered scrapped because
they fall short of coverage standards in the law.
While House passage of the measure is assured, each Democrat will be
forced to cast a vote on the future of a program that Republicans
have vowed to place at the center of next year's campaign.
Democratic Rep. Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania, who voted for the
initial Obama health care bill, said Thursday that members of his
caucus want an opportunity to go on the record in support of
allowing people to keep the insurance they had.
Doyle told MSNBC in an interview that at a White House meeting
Wednesday, House Democrats told Obama about "the frustration level
that many of us have" with the health care roll-out.
Doyle said Democrats warned Obama that "if you don't give us
something by Friday" to fix the insurance cancellation problem, then
many Democrats are likely to vote for the pending House bill
sponsored by Republican Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, which would
accomplish that goal.
The promise of keeping coverage was Obama's oft-stated pledge when
the legislation was under consideration, a calling card since
shredded by the millions of cancellations mailed out by insurers.
Obama apologized last week for the broken promise, but aides said at
the time the White House was only considering administration
changes, rather than new legislation.
[Associated
Press; DAVID ESPO and
JULIE PACE]
Associated Press writer
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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