President Obama apparently committed an impeachable offense when he "lied" to the American public, by unequivocally guaranteeing that no person who "likes" his health insurance plan (irrespective of what "likes" means) would ever, under any circumstances or for any reason, now or at any time in the future, find himself unable to "keep" that plan. Meaning, the President promised that every medical insurance policy contract in existence, past, present and future, would remain in existence and in force in perpetuity, at the same terms and at the same premium rate, at the consumer's option, without exception, for ever and ever, till the end of time. This, apparently, was a "lie," because the President knew that it would still be within the realm of possibility that an individual insurance policy might someday be changed or cancelled, or have its premium increased, by the insurer. The Affordable Care Act did not make that impossible. The President said, or at least implied, that it did. Ergo, he "lied."
I'm not going to parse words and dissect whether this was a "lie" or not; I'll stipulate to that for the time being. So congratulations, Republicans and GOP fans, you win. Obama lied. I am therefore voting Republican from now on; I now oppose gay marriage, abortion and gun control, I now believe that global warming is a hoax, that Government Is the Problem™ and there is a War on Christmas, and will begin advocating for more corporate tax cuts for Job Creators™, prayer in public schools and the next foreign invasion forthwith, once I've had a chance to watch Fox for a few hours and determine whatever else I'm now required to believe.
Now that I've got my passive-aggressive rant out of the way, I have a slightly more serious question for Republicans and GOP fans who have their panties in a twitter over this egregious, unprecedented and unforgivable "lie." What is it you actually want? Do you just want to strut around feeling smugly self-satisfied about having been "right" about Obama and the ACA, and being able to confidently and plausibly say as loud and as often and in as many Internet comment threads as you can that "Obama lied"? Or do you actually want all those people who "liked" their insurance policies to actually be able to "keep" them forever and ever and ever?
Because, here's the thing: If you truly want the latter, the only way to accomplish that is a total government takeover and direct government control of every medical insurer in the country. I'm starting to think this may be one of the reasons why Republicans ran about screeching with their hair on fire about how the ACA was a Government Takeover of Health Care™ even though it isn't. They heard the President guarantee that anyone who "liked" their health care plan could "keep" it, "period," and thought, OMG! He just guaranteed that anyone who "likes" their health care plan can "keep" it no matter what!! He can't make that happen, unless he's taking over the insurance companies in order to directly control them!! AAAGGH!!! TEH SOSHALIZMZZZZ!!!!
Well, the problem now is that the ACA is not, and never was, a Government Takeover of Health Care™, because if it was we wouldn't be having this problem. The ACA left private insurers free to make their own business decisions, and did not make it impossible for them to do what they are now doing. I know, I know. "He made them do it!" I heard that a lot when I was in third grade.
All these nascent Keep Your Health Insurance Plan Forever Because Obama Is A Lying Liar Act of 2013 bills are bogus, for the simple reason that as long as insurers have the ability to make their own business decisions, they'll be able to change, cancel, and/or raise the premiums on policies their customers "like." There's no way that any law can eliminate that possibility entirely; you can try to make it illegal, but you can't make it impossible. As the Ferengi might say, a contract is still a contract.
So, if Republicans -- and Democrats, for that matter -- really, really want to make sure that every existing medical insurance contract is absolutely guaranteed to continue in perpetuity, at the same terms and at the same premium rate, at the consumer's (and only the consumer's) option, let's see them pass a law that provides for direct and complete government control of every private health insurer. If there's another way to accomplish that goal, I'll be glad to hear it and I'm all for it.
Or, maybe Republicans don't actually want to accomplish that. Maybe they don't actually care whether anyone is able to "keep" a policy they "like." Maybe that smug satisfaction I described above is enough for them.
Naaah.....