OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Fumble

A chastened President Obama admitted Thursday his administration had “fumbled the rollout on this healthcare law.” Saying early technical glitches with the website and a broken promise that Americans could keep their health insurance were “on me,” the president told reporters he heard “loud and clear” growing frustration with his signature legislation. Justin Sink at The Hill reports.

The Fix: President Obama announced Thursday that insurance companies can offer health policies canceled under ObamaCare to the customers holding them for an additional year. The move could prevent existing plans from being canceled until after the 2014 midterm elections — a political decision designed to provide relief to Democrats worried the issue could cost them at the polls. But the final decision would rest with insurance companies, which will be permitted to continue offering canceled plans but will not be required to do so. Elise Viebeck at The Hill reports.

{mosads}Chaos: President Obama’s proposal to help people keep their existing health plans for a year could cause marketplace chaos, according to the nation’s largest trade group for insurance companies. America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) President and CEO Karen Ignagni also said the plan could hit consumers. The president’s proposal seeks to quell the growing outcry over millions of insurance plans canceled under ObamaCare despite the president’s promise that if you like your healthcare plan you can keep it. Jonathan Easley at The Hill reports.

Confusion: President Obama’s proposed fix for ObamaCare may not work in practice, according to state insurance regulators who would help implement the policy. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners suggested Thursday that the plan to allow insurance companies to offer non-compliant health plans into 2014 is not logistically feasible. Elise Viebeck at The Hill reports. 

State by state:

Minnesota regulators and officials are scrambling after President Obama’s reversal, The Minnesota Post reports.

Washington state’s insurance commissioner rejected President Obama’s proposal, The Associated Press reports.

Reading List:

The Wall Street Journal has the ObamaCare questions nobody asked ahead of time.

Ezra Klein at The Washington Post looks at the plan to fix ObamaCare.

ObamaCare is bad for young people, writes Nick Gillespie at TIME.

What you may have missed at HealthWatch:

Landrieu vows to move ahead despite Obama pledge.

Obama vows to get HealthCare.gov working.

Obama includes new enrollment push in healthcare fix.

Senate Dems want longer fix than Obama’s.

Comments / complaints / suggestions?
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Jonathan Easley/ jeasley@digital-staging.thehill.com / 202-407-8014 / @joneasley



Elise Viebeck/ eviebeck@digital-staging.thehill.com / 202-628-8523 / @eliseviebeck