Obama Seen Forced to Go to Congress to Seek Health-Law Changes
By Mike Dorning - Nov 14, 2013
President Barack Obama, who vowed to do “everything we can” to help Americans whose health insurance has been canceled, may have little authority to do so without going to Congress for changes in the law.
Policy experts say that while the president has broad power to exempt plans that were in effect before his health-care law was passed in March 2010, he doesn’t have that flexibility for policies started after that date, and that includes most individual policies in effect today.
The administration yesterday indicated it was willing to consider Democratic legislation to halt some of the hundreds of thousands of insurance cancellations that have raised alarm among voters and lawmakers. Previously, Obama and his aides stressed that they were searching for solutions that wouldn’t require congressional action.
Obama’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough, will meet today with Senate Democrats who have been lobbying for action. Some House Democrats say they’ll back a Republican bill scheduled for a vote tomorrow unless Obama comes up with a remedy.
The debut of the insurance marketplace at the core of the law, Obama’s signature achievement, has been marred by troubles with the federal online exchange and by the insurance cancellation letters. In the debate over the law, Obama had repeatedly promised that Americans who liked their existing insurance plans would be able to keep them.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-14/obama-seen-forced-to-go-to-congress-to-seek-health-law-changes.html
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