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发帖数: 29846 | 1 HHS Admits: You Might Not Be Able to Keep Your Doctor Under Obamacare
Flashback: "If you've got a doctor that you like, you will be able to keep
your doctor," Obama said.
Jeryl Bier
July 19, 2013 9:12 AM
As Obamacare was being pushed through Congress in 2010, the Obama
administration and its allies were unequivocal in two claims: If you like
your doctor and you like your current health care plan, you can keep them
both. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius and then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi
backed the president fully in this regard. The White House even went so far
as to post a "Health Insurance Reform Reality Check" on its website, where "
Linda Douglass of the White House Office of Health Reform debunks the myth
that reform will force you out of your current insurance plan or force you
to change doctors." President Obama upped the ante, putting the promise in
the form of a "guarantee":
THE PRESIDENT: Here is a guarantee that I've made. If you have insurance
that you like, then you will be able to keep that insurance. If you've got
a doctor that you like, you will be able to keep your doctor. Nobody is
trying to change what works in the system. We are trying to change what
doesn't work in the system.
While there has been sniping back and forth between the administration and
its detractors about the real-world application and implementation of
Obamacare, the new Healthcare.gov website has taken some of the mystery out
of the controversy. And President Obama and his administration do not fare
well in this latest "reality check." Among the questions that HHS recently
added to the website: "Can I keep my own doctor?":
"Depending on the plan you choose in the Marketplace, you may be able to
keep your current doctor." The bottom line is that Obamacare guarantees
neither. Doctors may be only available through certain networks, just as in
the current system. And only plans that existed in their current form on
March 23, 2010, are even eligible to be "kept." The vast majority of plans
will be new, subject to a raft of new regulations, requirements, and
restrictions.
Now that Health and Human Services has confirmed that the suspicions of
Obamacare opponents were justified, the Obama administration will have some
explaining to do to friends and foes of the law alike. Because now everyone
is finding out "what's in it." |
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