Readers react to ‘If you like your health plan …’ report
We received some especially interesting Facebook comments this week reacting to a special report about the president’s comment that, “If you like your plan, you can keep it.” Comments are edited for style and length. For more, check our Facebook page.
We love hearing from readers and also encourage you to email us at truthometer@politifact.com or tweet us @PolitiFact.
“The law largely affects the individual marketplace, and people in the individual marketplace are losing their plans. Therefore, it’s just not true what Obama said. But I don’t appreciate the far right saying that one-third of Americans will LOSE coverage. Those kinds of statements muddy the waters and make everyone run around scared.”
“I liked my plan but it disappeared. It was replaced with something different but not worse in any meaningful way. I guess I should be incensed and raging…”
“Unfortunately, the president really did mislead people. What he should have said was that before the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies dropped or changed plans for the general public by about 54 percent every year. And that plans that didn’t meet minimum federal standards would not be allowed. Then he should have explained how those minimum standards would protect people from ‘junk’ policies. I know that in my tenure with my employer, my plan has changed 16 times in 34 years. That said, I can sort of get why he didn’t go there — the general public has the attention span of fruit flies.”
“You didn’t cover those who have lost insurance due to companies no longer covering spouses. Where does that fit in? Where are those numbers? I find this run-down a bit unclear on those points and that is disturbing enough to question the rest.”
“I’ll take ‘If you like your plan, you can keep it’ over ‘Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction’ any day.”
“The problem with this article is that it doesn’t address the issue of giving insurance companies a license to steal. In order to meet the regulation put forth by the ACA they are gouging the company-paid health care plans. My wife’s insurance went up 125 percent and her deductible went up 100 percent.”
“Assuming the president and those who were selling this monstrosity of a bill at the time knew that ‘some plans for some people would be discontinued or changed substantially’ — and it was, in fact, the intent of the law — then Mr. Obama should not have misled the American people by making such an oversimplifying statement — period. Where’s the accountability?”
“This is why it’s so important to get facts and not believe one source. Just proves to show that more will benefit than those that won’t.”
“I still support ACA, however I am not happy with the White House on this. The president just needs to admit they were wrong and fix this now. Something Bush should have done with WMDs in Iraq.”
“This is the heart of PolitiFact. A pragmatic and rational exploration of a complex subject.”
