There are at least 3.5 million Americans who would take issue with President Obama’s promise that they could keep their insurance plans if they want to, according to the Associated Press. In a state-by-state breakdown, the news agency came to the figure by tracking notices through insurers in each state.
“The law is getting more and more real for people,” said Drew Altman, Kaiser Family Foundation president. “A lot of this will turn on whether there’s a perception that there have been more winners than losers. . . . It’s not whether an expert thinks something is a better insurance policy, it’s whether people perceive it that way.”
That 3.5 million may be just the beginning of a fleet of notices in the coming months, as even the Obama administration has admitted. Officials have repeatedly stated that 5 percent of the population, or about 15 million people, will be impacted by the health-care law. The administration and its allies have countered that the plans aren’t getting “canceled,” but “transitioned” or “migrated” instead.