House approves plan to let some keep their health plans - Washington Post

The House approved a plan Friday permitting health insurance companies to continue selling policies that do not comply with the health-care law, a proposal that would allow more Americans to keep their current health plans while significantly weakening part of the Affordable Care Act.

Thirty-nine Democrats joined with the Republican majority in support of the “Keep Your Health Plan Act,” a proposal by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) that would allow insurance companies to keep selling health policies that do not reflect the Affordable Care Act’s consumer protections.

For Republicans voted no on the bill. The 39 Democratic votes in favor represent the largest defection by far on a major or closely-watched piece of legislation this year, signaling the political difficulty that dozens of congressional Democrats face in reelection contests next year.

The proposal goes further than the administrative fix announced by President Obama Thursday, which would only allow insurers and state insurance commissioners to extend those policies through most of 2014.

But both efforts, as well as another crafted by Democrats in the Senate, are aimed at addressing the same issue: The political backlash over letters received by millions of Americans whose private health insurance policies are being canceled because of the health-care law.

Republicans have seized on the letters and repeated promises by President Obama that “if you like your health plan, you can keep it” as evidence that the health-care law is flawed and that the president has not been honest about its downsides.

But a number of Democrats — some facing tough reelection fights and anxious be seen as proactively trying to remedy the problem — have also pressed for action that would ensure that the president’s promise is honored in some way.

Some had threatened to support Upton’s bill, which could significantly weaken the health program. The health-care law now requires insurance companies beginning next year to cover a set of 10 so-called “essential” health benefits, such as maternity care and mental health services. Many of those benefits are not covered under current private insurance plans, so the Upton bill would make those standards unenforceable.

Obama has said he would veto the bill.

“This bill is not a bill to let people keep their health insurance plans. The president took care of that issue yesterday,” Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said in floor remarks Friday. “What this bill is, is another vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act.”

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) countered that the bill provided a remedy to a problem that both sides long expected. “We knew this was a promise [Obama] could not keep, and now it is a promise he has broken,” he said.