House Passes Bill Allowing People to Keep Their Insurance, What's Next?

Despite President Obama’s veto threat, the House of Representatives passed a bill allowing insurance companies to renew individual policies and sell similar policies to new customers next year without providing all the benefits and consumer protections required by the Affordable Care Act. The bill, which passed with a vote of 261 to 157, was supported by 39 Democrats, the New York Times reported.

“For the last six weeks the White House stood idly by ignoring the pleas of millions,” Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., the lead sponsor of the bill, told The Washington Post.

“Our straightforward, one-page bill says, if you like your current coverage, you should be able to keep it. The president should heed his own advice and work with us, the Congress, as the founders intended, not around the legislative process.”

Despite Upton’s declarations that the bill was in support of the American people’s wishes, some senior Democrats believe it’s the first step in destroying the Affordable Care Act.

Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Penn., criticized the bill, saying, “Don’t pretend you care about the American people’s health care here. You just want to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Democrats are not going to let you do that.”

The bill now faces an uphill battle in the Democrat-controlled Senate, although some Democrats seeking re-election next year may show their support for similar legislation, the Washington Post reported. The Senate may also take its time acting on the bill to see how the White House responds following President Obama’s suggestion on Thursday that people should be able to keep their insurance.

According to the New York Times, the insurance industry was alarmed by the president’s suggestion doubting it could work and fearing it might prove disastrous to the new insurance marketplace.

Jim Donelon, Louisiana’s insurance regulator and the president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioner, said on Thursday, “This decision continues different rules for different policies and threatens to undermine the new market, and may lead to higher premiums and market disruptions in 2014 and beyond.”

To subdue concerns, the president and his aides met with insurance company executives on Friday. “This is going to be a collaborative process,” Obama said during the meeting. “We want to make sure we get this done so in the years to come that every American is going to have the kind of affordable health care they all deserve.”

While both the president and members of Congress have voiced their support for American insurance consumers, neither have made a move to find a bipartisan solution together, the Washington Post noted.

Neither the bill passed by the House nor the president’s new policy would ensure that those with canceled policies would be able to keep it. Both would, however, allow insurance companies to sell coverage renewals if they wanted to with the approval of state insurance commissioners.