Showing posts with label Faneuil Hall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Faneuil Hall. Show all posts

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Obama’s 16 words

Remember George W. Bush’s “16 words” in his 2003 State of the Union address making the case for military action in Iraq? Sen. John Kerry charged that Bush “hoodwinked the American people.” Sen. Hillary Clinton said Bush “misled” the country. And Sen. Barack Obama accused the White House of “shading intelligence reports to support its case.”
Well, now it seems President Obama has his own 16 words to answer for: “If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan.” (Actually, it was a little more than 16 words if you include what the president said next: “Period. No one will take it away. No matter what.”)
Obama attempted to move the goal posts i nhis speech in Boston’s Faneuil Hall Wednesday, declaring that if you like your current health plan, “For the vast majority. . . you can keep it.” Sorry, he didn’t say “the vast majority” back in 2009. He said you can keep your plan. Period. No matter what.
Indeed, Obama repeated this promise on at least 24 separate occasions — before and after the law went into effect. It was critical to his case. Without his 16-word pledge that no one would lose his or her health plans, Obamacare might never have become law.
But Obama’s 16 words were untrue. Across the country, Americans are now seeing their health plans discontinued — and experts say the cancellations could eventually reach 16 millionAs one woman in California who got a cancellation letter from her insurer told the Los Angeles Times, “All we’ve been hearing the last three years is if you like your policy you can keep it . . . I’m infuriated because I was lied to.”

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Obama to cite Mass. health care law's slow start

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is citing the Massachusetts health care system's slow start to keep expectations low for early sign-ups for his own overhaul. And he's pointing to the bipartisan effort to get the program launched in Massachusetts to encourage his opponents to stop rooting for his law's failure.
The president planned to speak about the embattled law Wednesday from Boston's historic Faneuil Hall, where Massachusetts Republican Gov. Mitt Romney was joined by the late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy to sign the state's 2006 health care overhaul bill.
There's been no such bipartisanship surrounding Obama's effort, particularly this month as the marketplace to allow individuals to buy health insurance went online with myriad technical problems. Republicans say the dysfunction is more reason to repeal the law, and they're pressing Obama administration officials for an explanation.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was testifying Wednesday before a Republican-led House committee, a day after Medicare chief Marilyn Tavenner was questioned by lawmakers about the problems.

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