The Keep Your Health Plan Act of 2013 is a bill that would permit insurance companies forced to cancel existing insurance plans that do not meet Affordable Care Act rules to continue offering those plans during 2014. The bill is intended to "make good on President Obama's promise that 'if you like your health plan, you can keep it.'" It was introduced into the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress.
Background
The Obama Administration announced on November 12, 2013, that in October 2013 only 27,000 people had been able to use HealthCare.gov to purchase insurance from the federal government.
This summary is based largely on the summary provided by the Congressional Research Service, a public domain source. The Keep Your Health Plan Act of 2013 would permit a health insurance issuer that has in effect health insurance coverage in the individual market as of January 1, 2013, to continue offering such coverage for sale during 2014 outside of a health care exchange established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The bill would treat such coverage as a grandfathered health plan for purposes of an individual meeting the requirement to maintain minimum essential health coverage.
Rep. Martha Roby spoke in favor of the bill and urged other members of the House to vote in favor of it. Opponents argue that the bill would make the situation worse by increasing the complications of Obamacare implementation. The actions that prompted this bill – cancellation of existing insurance plans – have already occurred. People have been notified, computer systems have changed, and these now-cancelled plans have not been refiled with the regulatory agencies of the various states. Opponents argue that this situation makes it difficult or impossible for insurance companies to undo the policy cancellations made in preparation for Obamacare.
Subsequent criticism
President Obama's promise and the subsequent legislation aimed to allow American citizens to keep their healthcare plan were widely seen as promises that could not be kept. Obama's statement "if you like your healthcare plan you can keep it..." was later dubbed "Lie of the Year" by PolitiFact.com.
