'Mass Confusion And Worry'

While Secretary Sebelius Plays Defense At The Finance Committee, Millions Across America Face Higher Premiums And Lost Coverage

Sebelius Wouldn’t Answer Whether You Can Keep Your Coverage

“Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, peppered Sebelius with questions about President Barack Obama oft-stated pledge that anyone who likes their coverage will be able to keep it…. Asked if that was an accurate statement, Sebelius declined Cornyn’s request for a yes or no answer.” (“Kathleen Sebelius: Couple Of Hundred Obamacare Website Fixes Required,” AP, 11/6/13)

• SEBELIUS FLASHBACK: “The bottom line is that under the Affordable Care Act, if you like your doctor and plan, you can keep them.” (Sec. Sebelius, “Keeping The Plan You Like,” The White House Blog, 6/14/10)

‘My Insurance Rates Are Going Up,’ ‘This Is Hurting My Family’

“Mass confusion and worry … as people across the country receive discontinuation notices from their insurance companies.” (“Affordable Care Act Insurance Cancellations,” WPSD, 11/5/13)

KY Resident: ‘My insurance rates are going up... I feel like I’m being penalized’ “It is a confusing time for Rick and Melinda Reigle. ‘I’m a very healthy person, I’ve had the same company, I don’t take any medications, I’m not of child bearing years, but my insurance rates are going up... I feel like I’m being penalized,’ said Melinda.” (“Affordable Care Act Insurance Cancellations,” WPSD, 11/5/13)

CA Architect: Premiums increasing by almost $700 in exchange for ‘a higher deductible…a higher out-of-pocket maximum… and possibly higher costs for doctor visits and drugs’ “The couple — Lee, 60, and JoEllen, 59 — have been paying $550 a month for their health coverage — a plan that offers solid coverage, not one of the skimpy plans Obama has criticized. But recently, Kaiser informed them the plan would be canceled at the end of the year because it did not meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. … The letters said the couple would be enrolled in new Kaiser plans that would cost nearly $1,300 for the two of them (more than $15,000 a year). And for that higher amount, what would they get? A higher deductible ($4,500), a higher out-of-pocket maximum ($6,350), higher hospital costs (40 percent of the cost) and possibly higher costs for doctor visits and drugs.” (“Loyal Obama Supporters, Canceled By Obamacare,” ProPublica, 11/6/13)

• “‘…it hurt to hear Obama saying, just the other day, that if our plan has been dropped it’s because it wasn’t any good, and our costs would go up only slightly,’ he said.” (“Loyal Obama Supporters, Canceled By Obamacare,” ProPublica, 11/6/13)

CT Resident: ‘If [President Obama] told the truth, I would not have voted for him’ “Martin Klein, a 54-year-old psychologist in Fairfield, Conn., got a notice from Anthem in September that his health plan is being discontinued because it doesn’t meet the ACA’s standards. Klein, who describes himself as liberal and says he supports universal health insurance, nonetheless blames Obama for a reform that will drive his premiums up. He says the new plans he can buy all have higher deductibles for rates as much or more than the $554 a month he pays now. ‘If he told the truth, I would not have voted for him,’ Klein says of Obama. ‘This is hurting my family.’” (“Obamacare’s Insurance Cancellations: A Feature, Not A Bug,” Bloomberg Businessweek, 11/6/13)

MO Resident: ‘I don’t think it’s fair at all…It’s not affordable, and it’s not better than what I had in any way, shape or form’ “Mr. Nance… and his wife recently received a notice informing them that they could no longer keep their existing plan. Their insurance company offered an alternative that would cost twice as much. ‘I don’t think it’s fair at all,’ said Mr. Nance, 57, a home inspector in suburban St. Louis. ‘It’s not affordable, and it’s not better than what I had in any way, shape or form,’ Mr. Nance said.” (“When Insurers Drop Policies: Three Stories,” The New York Times, 10/31/13)

MN Small Business Owner: “‘I was shell-shocked when I saw the increase of my premiums,’ said Dave Magnuson owner of the Walkin’ Dog, a small business in the Minneapolis Skyway. ‘It’s going to increase around 45 percent.’” (“Insured Minnesotans Feel Like They’re Losing Out,” CBS Minnesota, 10/31/13)

NC Small Business Owner: Cost of coverage will more than triple, ‘Now you tell me the affordable part of that’ “…Tom Luebchow, a 54-year-old small-business owner in Winston-Salem, N.C., received a letter from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North Carolina telling him his individual health plan would be canceled and that the cost of coverage for his family would more than triple—to over $1,000 a month. … ‘At 54 years old, I’m working my butt off and making a decent living, but now I feel penalized since I make too much money. Now you tell me the affordable part of that,’ he said.” (“Canceled Policies Heat Up Health Fight,” The Wall Street Journal, 10/29/13)

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