Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., conceded that Democrats got "in bed" with insurance companies while crafting Obamacare, as he argued that the companies should do more to promote the law.
"We need to push this out into the insurance companies," Clyburn said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "If we are going to be in bed with them, let's bring them into this process. A lot of these insurance companies could be signing people up, they could be informing their policy holders — this letter that they're sending out, don't just cancel the policies, let them know what their alternatives are."
Clyburn's comment concurred with NBC's Chuck Todd's analysis, who explained why "the White House is disappointed" with the insurance companies' failure to promote Obamacare.
"They're in bed with the insurance companies," Todd said. "They're disappointed that the health insurance companies aren't more publicly enthusiastic since this law was essentially designed to give them more business."
Clyburn seems not to realize that insurance companies are directing policyholders to new Obamacare plans, but some of those policies cost more to provide less. For instance, the city workers in Bel Aire, Kan., lost their coverage only to have inferior alternatives offered to them.
"I simply wanted you to know the pain this is causing me and my staff in losing the terrific health coverage we had through Blue Cross Blue Shield in exchange for worse coverage at a higher price," city manager Ty Lasher wrote in a letter to Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., last week.
"BCBS offers other plans that we can choose from based on the government’s standards," Lasher wrote. "All offer higher deductibles and the two closest to our old plan each cost more than what we were paying. In addition, because we are under 50 employees, we no longer get a ‘group’ rate so everyone is being judged as a single."
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