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Divided We Stand

Divided We Stand
New book about the 2020 election.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

"If You Like Your Current Plan..."

So what we're working on is the creation of something called the Health Insurance Exchange, which would allow you to one-stop shop for a health care plan, compare benefits and prices, choose the plan that's best for you. If you're happy with your plan, you keep it.
Barack Obama:"Remarks at a Town Hall Meeting and a Question-and-Answer Session in Green Bay, Wisconsin," June 11, 2009.Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=86271
Now, I know that there are millions of Americans who are happy, who are content with their health care coverage. They like their plan; they value their relationship with their doctor. And no matter how we reform health care, I intend to keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you'll be able to keep your doctor; if you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan.

So don't let people scare you. If you like what you've got, we're not going to make you change.
Barack Obama:"Remarks at a Town Hall Meeting and a Question-and-Answer Session in Green Bay, Wisconsin," June 11, 2009.Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=86271.
If you like your plan and your doctor, you can keep them. The only changes that you'll see are lower costs and better health care.
Barack Obama:"The President's Weekly Address," June 13, 2009.Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=86270
If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.
Barack Obama: "Remarks to the American Medical Association National Conference in Chicago, Illinois," June 15, 2009. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=86285.
And I've said this before: If you like your doctor, you should be able to keep your health care; if you like your health care plan, you should be able to keep it.
Barack Obama:"Remarks at a Fundraiser Event for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee," June 18, 2009.Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=86312.
So if you're happy with your plan, as I said, you keep it.
Barack Obama:"Remarks at ABC's "Prescription for America" Town Hall Meeting and a Question-and-Answer Session," June 24, 2009.Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=86336.
We've agreed that our health reform bill will promote choice. America—Americans will be able to compare the price and quality of different plans and pick the plan that they want. If you like your current plan, you will be able to keep it. Let me repeat that: If you like your plan, you'll be able to keep it.
Barack Obama:"Remarks on Health Care Reform," July 21, 2009.Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=86446.
What we're talking about is not completely scrapping the existing health care system. All we're saying is if you've got health insurance, you can keep it.
Barack Obama:"Remarks at a Town Hall Meeting and a Question-and-Answer Session in Shaker Heights, Ohio," July 23, 2009.Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=86459
On the other hand, here's what reform will mean for you. First, no matter what you've heard, if you like your doctor or health care plan, you can keep it.
Barack Obama:"The President's Weekly Address," August 15, 2009.Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=86540.
First, no matter what you've heard, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor under the reform proposals that we've put forward. If you like your private health insurance plan, you can keep it. If your employer provides you health insurance on the job, nobody is talking about messing with that.
Barack Obama:"Remarks at the Organizing for America National Health Care Forum and a Question-and-Answer Session," August 20, 2009.Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=86555.
But the last thing I will say, though—let me say this about health care and the health care debate, because I think it also bears on a whole lot of other issues. If you look at the package that we've presented—and there's some stray cats and dogs that got in there that we were eliminating, we were in the process of eliminating. For example, we said from the start that it was going to be important for us to be consistent in saying to people if you can have your—if you want to keep the health insurance you got, you can keep it, that you're not going to have anybody getting in between you and your doctor in your decisionmaking. And I think that some of the provisions that got snuck in might have violated that pledge.

And so we were in the process of scrubbing this and making sure that it's tight.
Barack Obama:"Remarks to the House Republican Conference and a Question-and-Answer Session in Baltimore, Maryland," January 29, 2010.Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=87468.
If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. I can tell you, as the father of two young girls, I would not want any plan that interferes with the relationship between a family and their doctor.
Barack Obama:"Remarks on Health Care Reform," March 3, 2010.Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=87593.
What won't change when this bill is signed is this: If you like the insurance plan you have now, you can keep it. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, because nothing should get in the way of the relationship between a family and their doctor.
Barack Obama:"The President's Weekly Address," March 6, 2010.Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=87612
Bret, the core of this bill is going to be affecting every American family. If you have insurance, you're going to be able to keep it.
Barack Obama:"Interview With Bret Baier on Fox News Channel's "Special Report"," March 17, 2010.Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=88323
If you like your doctor, you're going to be able to keep your doctor. If you like your plan, keep your plan.
Barack Obama:"Remarks at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia," March 19, 2010.Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=25450.
They'll have to finally acknowledge that this isn't a Government takeover of our health care system. They'll see that if Americans like their doctor, they will keep their doctor. And if you like your insurance plan, you will keep it. No one will be able to take that away from you. It hasn't happened yet. It won't happen in the future.
Barack Obama:"Remarks on Health Care Reform in Portland, Maine," April 1, 2010.Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=87699.
Through these marketplaces, Americans and small-business owners will be able to choose from a menu of health plans that fit their budget and provide quality coverage they can count on when they need it most. If you like the plan you have, you can keep it.
Barack Obama:"Statement on the Third Anniversary of the Signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," March 23, 2013.Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=103377