More than a dozen states plan to cancel health care policies not in compliance with ObamaCare in the coming weeks, affecting thousands of people just before the midterm elections.
“It looks like several hundred thousand people across the country will receive notices in the coming days and weeks,” said Jim Capretta of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
The policies are being canceled because states that initially granted a reprieve at the request of President Obama are no longer willing to do so.
In coming weeks, 13 states and the District of Columbia plan to cancel such policies, which generally fall out of compliance with the Affordable Care Act because they don’t offer the level of coverage the law requires.
Virginia will be hardest hit, with 250,000 policies expected to be canceled.
And because federal law requires a 60-day notice of any plan changes, voters will be notified no later than November 1, right before the Nov. 4 midterms.
Many of those forced out of their current plans and into ObamaCare may not be able to keep their doctors. They also could face higher deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses, making ObamaCare an election issue on the eve of voting.
Obama had originally unequivocally promised that underhis health care plan, everyone could keep their doctors and plans.
In 2009, he told the American Medical Association, “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period.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.”
The president later was forced to admit that any plan without the additional benefits required under ObamaCare faced cancellation.
But that unleashed a nasty political backlash, forcing him to back down and call for states and insurers to extend those policies forthree more years.
Some said he didn’t have much choice. “There were some five or six million people who were at stake here and the federal exchange was in no condition to even process a few hundred thousand people much less millions,” said Joe Antos of the American Enterprise Institute.
Many states flatly refused to extend and now comes the new round of states that plan to cancel policies.
Jim Angle currently serves as chief national correspondent for Fox News Channel (FNC). He joined FNC in 1996 as a senior White House correspondent.