Tom Harkin: “One of the things we put in the health care bill when we designed it was the protection for consumers to keep the plan…”

“One of the things we put in the health care bill when we designed it was the protection for consumers to keep the plan they have if they like it; thus, the term ``grandfathered plans.'' If you have a plan you like--existing policies--you can keep them. Well, then we left it to the Department of Health and Human Services to craft regulations to define exactly what a grandfathered plan is. On the one hand, you want to give some flexibility to plans to be able to make reasonable changes. For example, if costs go up, they can increase their premiums somewhat. They can do certain things. But they cannot change the fundamental kind of nature of the plan and still call it a grandfathered plan. You want to protect consumers to make sure that what plan they signed up for is the grandfathered plan and not something else. For instance, if the regulations are overturned, which is what the Senator from Wyoming wants, insurance plans could change immensely. Yet that is not what you signed up for; for example, the grandfathering rule that says the insurer cannot significantly cut your benefits.”