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President Barack Obama made a promise to the American people, and former President Bill Clinton believes he should keep his word.
When President Obama proposed his plan for universal health care, he assured those who were happy with their insurance that they would not be forced to change their policy. The president has since had to backtrack that commitment as individual health policies have changed, and some 3.5 million people have had their health plans canceled.
Clinton believes that the president must honor that pledge, even if that means changing the bill.
“I personally believe, even if it takes a change in the law, the president should honor the commitment that the federal government made to those people and let them keep what they got,” said Clinton, who spoke with OZY Media founder Carlos Watson on Tuesday.
It is believed that 5 percent of Americans don't receive health care through their job or some federal service like Medicare. That 5 percent works out to be roughly 14 million people, and it is these people who potentially may have their health care canceled if the law isn't fixed.
“Even though it’s a small percentage of folks who may be disadvantaged, you know, it means a lot to them,” Obama said Thursday in an interview with NBC News. “And it’s scary to them. And I am sorry that they, you know, are finding themselves in this situation, based on assurances they got from me.”
A reporter asked White House Press Secretary Jay Carney if the president agreed with Clinton, and he pointed to Obama's apologetic interview with NBC.
“Well, I think as you saw the president say in an interview with NBC last week, the answer is yes—the president has tasked his team with looking at a range of options, as he said, to make sure that nobody is put in a position where their plans have been canceled and they can’t afford a better plan, even though they’d like to have a better plan,” Carney told reporters at the White House and Time magazine reports.