Pelosi: People getting their insurance cancelled for their own good

Another day, another slew of Democratic talking points on the disaster that is Obamacare. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sought to soothe the hurt feelings of people who were bumped off their insurance plans because of the law by making the startling claim that it's for their own good.

The Hill:

"While you might like your old plan, what you're going to get under the new plan is that [it does] not discriminate on the basis of pre-existing conditions, does not deny you a key benefit like ... maternal, mental health or prescription drug coverage and cannot drop you when you are sick," Pelosi said during a press conference in the Capitol. 

"These are part of the 'patients' bill of rights,' which is a vast improvement over other plans."

Pelosi said the sharp rise in medical costs, combined with the transient nature of the individual insurance market, would eventually have forced people out of their individual plans - ObamaCare or none.

"No matter what people say about whether they like their plan or not, their plan was not going to be their plan," she said. "Everybody's premiums were going up."

Pelosi noted that only about 5 percent of Americans are enrolled in the individual plans most likely to fall short of ObamaCare's minimum benefit requirements. And within that group, she added, many patients will be able to keep their existing coverage because the new rules apply only to plans established or altered after the law was enacted.

"If you were in a plan in 2010 when the president said, 'If you're in a plan and you like your plan you can keep your plan,' you can [keep your plan]," Pelosi said. "If you've enrolled since then, you'll get a conversion letter."

First, note the subtlety in changing what Obama actually said. Obama never mentioned the 2010 cutoff date when promising Americans they could keep their insurance, nor did he say anything about losing your policy if it was altered.

Also note how a policy "cancellation" has become a "conversion letter." The fact that you are likely to pay a lot more for coverage as well as doubling or tripling your deductible makes the idea of "conversion" sound silly.

But it is Pelosi's spinning the idea that a policy bought through the exchanges is better than what you had previously because it offers maternity (or contraceptive) coverage - even if you're a 60 year old grandma -, or mental health coverage, or other "benefits" you will probably never use, that makes her talking points so dishonest.

Meanwhile, House #3 Democrat Steny Hoyer treats us to his differentiation between a lie and bad "messaging":

On Tuesday, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the minority whip, rejected the notion that the Democrats misled the public when they pitched the Affordable Care Act. But the messaging, he acknowledged, "was not precise enough." 

"Clearly, it should have been caveated with, 'Assuming you have a policy that, in fact, does do what the bill is designed to do,' " Hoyer said.

Try that with your boss and see what happens:

Me: Sorry boss, when I told you I completed the Mansfield file, my messaging wasn't precise enough. I haven't touched it.

Boss: You're fired.




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