Legal Commentary

If You Like Your Health Plan, You Will NOT Be Able to Keep It

By Jim Lindgren

I like my employer?s health plan. Today I learned that under both the Senate and the House bills, I won?t be able to keep my plan. Both bills require reductions in health reimbursement benefits under my plan.

Both the Senate and the House health bills slash a significant part of my employer?s health plan ? the Health Flexible Spending Account ? restricting them to $2500 and restricting what they can used for.

That single change in my health plan (and my wife?s) will cause our family to pay a couple thousand dollars more each year in income taxes, and yet my FSA might still cause my employer?s plan to trigger the 40% Senate tax on Cadillac plans (I don?t know enough about the full cost of our plans to know).

Remember perhaps President Obama?s most prominently and frequently made promise from last summer:

If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what.

If you like your plan, . . . you keep your plan.

I know that there are millions of Americans who are happy, who are content with their health care coverage ? they like their plan, they value their relationship with their doctor. And no matter how we reform health care, I intend to keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you?ll be able to keep your doctor; if you like your health care plan, you?ll be able to keep your health care plan.

Those who argued that President Obama could not possibly keep that promise were accused of spreading lies and disinformation, of using ?scare tactics.?

Now we learn that Obama?s critics were right.

If the White House won?t apologize for spreading disinformation about health care reform, at least it should pull an Emily Litella and update its ?Reality Check? website to say: ?Never mind.?

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on December 23, 2009 (boomark / email).