As the controversy over those who’ve discovered they are losing their doctors and insurance due to the Affordable Health Care grows, Republicans (note Karl Rove here) seem almost gleeful as Democrats find the advantage they gained during the Republican House-engineered shut down has been wiped out. Now, amid angry feedback the White House got from Democrats, President Barack Obama is reportedly going to announce an administrative fix:
President Barack Obama will lay out an administrative solution to address the problem of people getting cancellation notices from their health insurance providers due to the Affordable Care Act, a senior Democratic source familiar with the plan tells CNN’s Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash.
The plan will in part call for insurance policies to be renewed for one year for those who already have insurance policies in the individual market, the source said.
If an insurance company does renew a substandard plan, it would be required to do two things. First, it would have to notify the policy holder of alternative coverage options. Second, the company would have to disclose all of the benefits a policy holder will lose if she keeps an existing substandard plan.
The source noted the President may disclose additional details.
Am administrative fix would be Obama’s best route. Republicans are still making it clear that they’d like to scrap the whole plan. And if Obama needs to get approval from Congress he can count on…no action.
Will this be enough to stem the political damage to him, the Democrats and his legacy? A key remains getting the website working. The rollout of Obamacare will likely rank as one of the most disastrous implementations of a federal program in American history. A website that works where people can sign up, and removing the problem of those who have gotten notices that they lost their insurance could give the program a chance to work — and for the Democrats and Obama to recoup at least part of the damage from the political typhoon that has hit them.
If Obama had an administrative fix for the whole “website doesn’t work” thing, Dems would be in fine shape.
— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) November 14, 2013
SOURCES: Obama will thank Republicans for all their helpful suggestions, but announce administrative, not legislative fix, to #Obamacare
— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) November 14, 2013
Pelosi on Obamacare fix: "I would rather it be an administrative fix" bc that could be done without "accompanying agendas."
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) November 14, 2013
President Obama seeks "administrative fix" for healthcare law with other people's money. More: http://t.co/aRyeAIWHyq #tcot
— PJ Media (@PJMedia_com) November 9, 2013
If the early leaks are accurate, Obama's administrative fix to Obamacare sounds a helluvalot like the Upton bill http://t.co/Y8cawb3N1u
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) November 14, 2013
OH, THIS IS RICH: Obama is going to propose an ADMINISTRATIVE fix to Obamacare. Why is there even a Congress? http://t.co/E6rU74Iwqk
— Ellen Carmichael (@ellencarmichael) November 14, 2013
Any administrative fix that un-cancels plans is likely to raise premiums in the exchange. http://t.co/aWDzmJ4wlp
— Sarah Kliff (@sarahkliff) November 14, 2013
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.