The Line: If you like your health insurance plan, you can keep it. Period.
The Party: Democrat
For years, President Obama promised millions of Americans with health insurance that "if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan" under his health care overhaul. He wasn't the only one, either.
Top congressional Democrats echoed the president's assurances that those who were happy with their plans would be able to keep them.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the health care overhaul efforts "means making sure you can keep your family's doctor or keep your health care plan if you like it."
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin told the happily insured "we are going to put in any legislation considered by the House and Senate the protection that you, as an individual, keep the health insurance you have, if that is what you want."
And current Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray also said: "If you like what you have today, that will be what you have when this legislation is passed."
That promise simply couldn't be made to everyone who already had health insurance.
That's because most Americans are covered by plans through their jobs, and nothing in the health care law prohibited employers from dropping coverage or changing health plans as they have been able to previously.
The health care law sets minimum standards for insurance coverage, requiring that all health plans cover mental health benefits, prescription drug coverage, vaccinations, dental and vision care for children, maternity care, and more.
The upgrades mean that plans that didn't cover the required benefits would cease to exist.
Americans who purchase such plans on the individual insurance market have been receiving notices that their current plans will no longer be offered after this year, as several news organizations reported in October.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/11/11/fact-check-keeping-your-health-plan/3500187/