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Sebelius denies Obama broke promise that Americans can keep current insurance

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as she was sworn in prior to the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as she was sworn in prior to the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday.
Alex Wong/Getty Images

While testifying in a Capitol Hill hearing on Wednesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius denied that Barack Obama broke his multi-year promise that Americans can keep their insurance if they like it. Fox News reported.

“Before, during and after the law was passed the president kept saying if you like your health care plan, you can keep it, so is he keeping his promise?” Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., asked.

“Yes, he is,” Sebelius said.

“What do you say to 300,000 people in Florida you just mentioned or to the 28,000 in Tennessee that cannot get health insurance? Their plans are terminated. Is he keeping his promise to them?” Blackburn countered.

“First of all, Congresswoman, they can get health insurance. They must be offered new plans, new options, either inside the market marketplace or if they don’t qualify for a financial subsidy they can shop inside or outside of the marketplace," Sebelius responded.

But saying people will be offered new plans does not match the promise repeatedly made by President Obama.

On Tuesday, CBS reported that three times as many Americans are losing their current health insurance as have been able to sign up for new coverage at Healthcare.gov, and at least two million are losing their current coverage due to Obamacare, something Rep. Steny Hoyer admitted Democrats knew as early as 2010.

Now, in an effort to spin what many see as an outright lie by the administration, Democrats are claiming that insurance plans are "transitioning," or morphing into something new. But the new plans are much more expensive and carry an extremely high deductible, which flies in the face of another Obama promise.

The Washington Post fact-checker gave Obama its worst rating -- four Pinocchios -- for making the promise.

"The president’s statements were sweeping and unequivocal — and made both before and after the bill became law. The White House now cites technicalities to avoid admitting that he went too far in his repeated pledge, which, after all, is one of the most famous statements of his presidency," the Post said.

"The president’s promise apparently came with a very large caveat: 'If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan — if we deem it to be adequate,'” Glenn Kessler added.

Meanwhile, the White House website continues to spread the lie that “If you like your plan you can keep it and you don’t have to change a thing due to the health care law.”

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