WASHINGTON -- President Obama personally apologized Thursday for assurances that people who liked their health insurance plans would be able to keep them after the Affordable Care Act -- also known as Obamacare -- went into effect in October.
"I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me," the president told Chuck Todd of NBC News during an interview at the White House.
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Obama and administration officials had repeatedly told people that the health insurance reform would not affect anyone who was currently insured. While that was true for those with insurance through their employers, many people who had individual coverage were forced off of plans when requirements changed under Obamacare.
An investigation by NBC News revealed in October that officials knew as far back as 2010 that restrictions by the Department of Health and Human Services would limit the number of individual plans that would be grandfathered in under the new law. Officials said as many as 50 to 70 percent of people with individual plans would not be able to keep their insurance. Individual purchasers make up about 5 percent of the population.
That includes about 90,000 people in Alabama, according to the Associated Press.
See the full NBC News interview here:
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