Political Quotes

“last June, President Obama promised on national television that ``Government is not going to make you change plans under health reform.'' In his September 2009 address to Congress he told Americans, ``If you have health insurance through your job, nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have.'' Many Americans doubted this would be the case, and they have been proven right. In the months after the health care law was passed, the administration wrote the regulations for plans with grandfathered status. Grandfathered status was supposed to allow employers to continue offering current health plans, even if those plans don't meet all of the government's new cost-increasing mandates and requirements. And we were told it was intended to help protect Americans enrolled in these plans from ``rate shock,'' or significant premium increases, as a result of the new government mandates. The consulting firm Mercer has bad news for people hoping to keep what they currently have. It released a new survey of employers on the impact of the health care law. One-quarter of employers surveyed estimate that the law would raise premiums by at least 3 percent. That increase is beyond this year's normal rise in costs due to medical inflation. A majority of respondents--57 percent--said they will ask employees to pay a greater share of the cost of coverage in 2011, meaning higher deductibles and copays.”