If you like your health care plan, you can keep it
| If you like your health care plan, you can keep it | |
|---|---|
| FALSE | |
| "Under the Affordable Care Act, Americans who like their current health insurance plans will be able to keep them, period." | |
| Domain | Politics & Elections |
| Tactic | False Context Propaganda Technique |
| Era | Current |
| First seen | 2009 |
| Origin | Repeated statements by President Barack Obama and his allies while promoting health care reform from 2009 to 2013 |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-27 |
| Further reading: books on Politics & Elections | |
The promise that "if you like your health care plan, you can keep it" was one of the central selling points of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). President Barack Obama repeated it many times while campaigning for the law and afterward, sometimes adding "period." In late 2013, as the law's main provisions took effect, millions of people who bought insurance on the individual market received cancellation notices because their plans did not meet the law's new minimum coverage requirements. Obama apologized, and PolitiFact named the promise its 2013 Lie of the Year. The promise was broadly true for most Americans, who received insurance through employers or government programs, but it was false for a significant group, and the administration knew that its rules would lead to cancellations.
The claim
Obama made the promise to reassure voters worried that reform would disrupt their existing coverage. He said it in speeches, town halls and interviews from 2009 onward, including in an address to Congress in September 2009, often in absolute terms.
What the evidence shows
- New coverage rules. The ACA required insurance plans to cover a set of essential health benefits, limited out-of-pocket costs and prohibited exclusions for pre-existing conditions. Many cheaper individual market plans did not meet these standards.
- Grandfathering was narrow. The law allowed plans in existence on March 23, 2010, to continue, but regulations issued in 2010 meant that plans lost this protection if insurers changed them significantly, which was common. Plans purchased after that date had to comply. Administration documents from 2010 projected that many individual market plans would lose grandfather status.
- Cancellations. In late 2013 insurers sent cancellation notices to millions of people in the individual market, estimates ranged from about 4 million to more than 5 million, although many were offered alternative plans, sometimes at higher prices.
- Obama's apology. In a November 7, 2013, interview with NBC News, Obama said he was sorry that people were finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from him. Days later his administration allowed insurers, where states agreed, to temporarily renew noncompliant plans.
- Lie of the Year. PolitiFact named the promise its Lie of the Year for 2013, noting that the claim had been rated less than true years earlier but that Obama had continued to repeat it.
Defenders noted that most people with employer coverage, Medicare or Medicaid were not affected, that many people with canceled plans qualified for subsidies, and that the replacement plans offered more protection. Critics replied that the promise had been absolute.
Why it persists
The episode is a prominent example of a politician making a simple, absolute promise about a complex policy. Advisers reportedly debated whether to qualify the line but kept it in its simple form because it was effective. It illustrates how oversimplification for political persuasion can become a falsehood, regardless of a policy's overall merits.
Lessons for readers
- Be wary of absolute promises, especially about complex policies.
- Ask who is excluded when a politician says "everyone" or "you."
- Check regulations and fine print, not just headline commitments.
- A policy can be beneficial overall and still involve misleading claims.
- Hold politicians of all parties to their specific promises.
See also
- The Affordable Care Act creates death panels
- Brexit would free up 350 million pounds a week for the NHS
- I did not have sexual relations with that woman
Sources
- Angie Drobnic Holan, "Lie of the Year: 'If you like your health care plan, you can keep it'," PolitiFact, December 12, 2013.
- US Department of Health and Human Services and others, interim final rule on grandfathered health plans, Federal Register, June 17, 2010.
- Barack Obama, interview with Chuck Todd, NBC News, November 7, 2013.
- Kaiser Family Foundation, analyses of individual market cancellations (2013).