Politics & Government

More Dems jump on "if you like your plan" fix

Lesley Clark - McClatchy Washington Bureau

November 12, 2013 06:06 PM

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is signing on to "if you like your health care plan, you keep it," legislation that would stop the cancellations of individual insurance policies that don’t meet the requirements of the health care law.

Feinstein said she's decided to cosponsor Sen. Mary Landrieu’s "Keeping the Affordable Care Act Promise Act," saying it "provides a simple fix to a complex problem."

The bill would extend the grandfather date for individual insurance plans so that individuals who have insurance policies they like can keep them indefinitely, unless the individual chooses another plan or the insurer stops providing health insurance in the individual market.

Feinstein said since the beginning of September, she's received 30,842 calls, emails and letters from Californians, "many of whom are very distressed by cancellations of their insurance policies and who are facing increased out-of-pocket costs."

“Too many Americans are struggling to make ends meet," the California Democrat said. "We must ensure that in our effort to reform the health care system, we do not allow unintended consequences to go unaddressed."

Feinstein called the law "a good law, but it is not perfect. I believe the Landrieu bill is a commonsense fix that will protect individuals in the private insurance market from being forced to change their insurance plan. I hope Congress moves quickly to enact it.” President Obama has apologized for misleading people when he said they could keep their plans if they liked them. The White House has said Obama has asked his staff to look into ways to solve the problem of cancelled plans, but hasn't provided details on how it intends to do so.

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