Administration Report Signaled Cancellation Problems

The Obama administration knew all along that its signature healthcare law would disrupt private plans, putting at least 93 million Americans at risk of facing insurance cancellations, according to Forbes magazine.

A June 2010 edition of the Federal Register shows that administration officials were predicting large disruptions in the private insurance market, despite President Barack Obama's repeated promises that Americans could keep their insurance, Forbes reported.

The predictions were tied to the part of the Affordable Care Act laying out new minimum standards for coverage. Some existing individual plans would be grandfathered in, but many of them would not make the cut because of tightened regulations defining adequate coverage.

The administration projected in the register report that "40 to 67 percent" of individual private insurance plans would be canceled.

"The Departments’ mid-range estimate is that 66 percent of small employer plans and 45 percent of large employer plans will relinquish their grandfather status by the end of 2013,” the administration's report said.

When all the numbers are added up, Forbes noted, up to 93 million Americans may have to change their insurance plans or be subject to IRS penalties.

The White House has been busy this week doing damage control on the numbers. White House Spokesman Jay Carney insisted this week the disruption issue will affect "only 5 percent of the population."

"In some of the coverage of this issue in the last several days, you would think that you were talking about 75 percent or 80 percent or 60 percent of the American population," he said.

The number of cancellations aren't expected to be nearly that high. But nonetheless, Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson and Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton are proposing their "Like Your Health Care Plan You Can Keep It Act," along with several other co-sponsors, Forbes reports.

The bill says that there should be nothing in the healthcare law that requires people to terminate their insurance and switch over to the Obamacare exchange.

Related Stories:
Bill Maher: Obama Should Not Have Lied About Obamacare
Report: Contractor Warned Obamacare Site Not Ready a Month Before Rollout