“President Obama acknowledged Thursday that his promise, ‘If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period,’ which he repeated dozens of times, hasn’t worked out. It ‘ended up not being accurate,’ he said.

“He said he understands the frustration of the 4.9 million Americans forced out of health plans they found satisfactory and affordable and forced into Obamacare plans that they do not want. ‘I'm willing to work with Democrats and Republicans to fix problems as they arise,’ the president said.

“A good place to start would be to support the bill I introduced in the Senate called the ‘If You Like Your Health Plan, You Can Keep It Act.’ The president said that Obamacare’s grandfather clause was ‘not sufficient.’ He is right. His administration put such restrictions on that clause that it made it certain that insurers could not keep offering the plans their customers chose. My bill strips those restrictions so the grandfather clause really does let people keep plans if they find them satisfactory.

“In contrast, the president’s latest idea has a crucial flaw: It is short-term. He proposes letting people keep their plans for one year only. After that, apparently, they’d again be forced onto costlier, less satisfactory Obamacare plans. People don’t need a health-care solution just for the next year. We need to think long-term.

“Unfortunately, the implementation of Obamacare has ground on to the point that millions of plans that already have been cancelled cannot be reinstated. But the freedom of millions of Americans to keep the doctors, treatments and health plans they prefer can still be preserved if Congress acts swiftly and decisively.  I plan to introduce another bill called the ‘Preserve Freedom and Choice in Health Care Act.’ It will attempt to protect liberty and the rights of individuals to make their own health care decisions.

“The real long-term solution is to repeal Obamacare. Dumping this top-down, Washington-style monstrosity is the only way to save our health care system from permanent damage. Until then, we can at least take steps to stop throwing people off the insurance they have. If the president is willing, my bill is waiting.”

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