The New Honesty

Greg Sargent:

This Friday, House Republicans are expected to vote on a proposal — championed by GOP Rep. Fred Upton — that would allow insurance companies the option of continuing all existing health plans for a year, in response to the loss of plans that has taken place despite Obama’s vow otherwise. The White House points out that this will undermine the law. [Emphasis added]

Notice please that we’ve gone from three years of promises that “if you like the plan you have you can keep it,” to “letting you keep your plan will undermine the law.” What a difference a couple of weeks and a few million cancelation notices make.

In a related item, Matt Yglesias (quelle surprise!) is the latest to hop aboard the Eat Your Spinach bandwagon:

Rather than (foolishly) try to ensure that nobody could ever lose their insurance, the actual Affordable Care Act accelerated the demise of a certain class of plan. Politically, that’s now an embarrassment for the White House. Substantively, it’s a huge achievement.

I guess at least the lying liars who lie have quit lying about lying — and just in time, too, as the awful truth becomes undeniable:

Margaret Davis of West L.A. voted for President Obama and appreciates the ideas behind the Affordable Care Act. She agrees that everyone should have access to healthcare and no one should be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions.

But here’s the problem:

She knows firsthand, as the new law of the land rolls clumsily into being, that it’s not working out to everyone’s advantage.

“I’m a 55-year-old woman in excellent health and have a catastrophic health plan,” she wrote recently to Obama and California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. “I am completely happy with my plan. I received notice that the plan is being canceled and that to stay with a “comparable” plan my premiums would increase 88%, or $200 extra per month. To add insult to injury, the plan is INFERIOR to my existing plan.”

That means it’s working, Margaret. Just ask Yglesias.