Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul told an audience in Charleston, S.C. last week that the wave of health insurance cancellations following the Affordable Care Act's implementation came from 'a regulation written by President Obama' months after he signed the law.
And every Senate Democrat, he said during his Nov. 11 remarks, voted against the GOP's attempt to block the regulation.
Speaking at The Charleston Meeting, an influential monthly gathering of conservative movers and shakers, Paul said Senate Republicans tried in 2010 to block an Obamacare rule that only permitted Americans to keep their health insurance policies if nothing about them was changed from year to year.
That 'grandfather' clause in the Obama administration's regulations has been widely faulted for causing nearly 5 million policy cancellations, and analysts estimate that number could climb to 12 million.
President Obama pledged on Thursday to give insurers a one-year grace period, and House Republicans passed a stronger measure on Friday that would empower the companies to keep selling their 2013 policies indefinitely.
'I'm still learning about it,'
Paul said of the Affordable Care Act. 'It’s 20,000 pages of regulations. The Bill was 2,000 pages. And I didn’t realize this until this week – the whole idea of you losing or getting your insurance cancelled wasn’t in the original Obamacare [law]. It was a regulation written by President Obama, three months later.'
In a little-noted Nov. 5
report, the influential Senate Republican Policy claimed that '[t]he Obama Administration decided – all on its own – that any routine change made to a grandfathered plan would invalidate the promise that you can keep what you had.'
Citing that report, Paul described the GOP's attempt to do away with that regulation in 2010, months before he became a U.S. senator.
'The Republicans had a vote to try to cancel that regulation so you couldn’t be cancelled – to grandfather everybody in,' he said.
'You know what the vote was? Straight party line. Every Democrat voted to keep the rule that cancels your insurance.'
The GOP proposal came from Wyoming Republican Senator Mike Enzi, who sought to overturn what he warned would 'threaten small businesses with higher health care costs, more regulation, and even loss of the health insurance many of their employees rely on.'
'Throughout the health care debate, the President continually promised, "If you like what you have you can keep it,'" Enzi said at the time. 'The grandfathered health plan rule breaks the President’s promise.'
His
proposal, a joint resolution expressing 'congressional disapproval' of the grandfather clause, failed on a
59-40 vote strictly along party lines.
During a brief debate,Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley complained that 'only in the District of Columbiacould you get away with telling the people "if you like what you have you can keep it," and then pass regulations six months later that do just the opposite, and figure that people are going to ignore it.'
In his Charleston speech, Paul claimed politically vulnerable Democrats including Mark Pryor or Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana will find it difficult to explain their 2010 votes when they run for re-election next year.
"This week, have you noticed?' he asked. 'Democrats are, like, going to the White House and saying, "Mr. President – what did you do?'"
'We're not responsible for this,' he described them telling their constituents. 'The president cancelled your insurance, but not us. Because we're running in the South now, and we've got a Republican running against us.'
But Landrieu and Pryor 'voted specifically, not just for Obamacare. They voted for the rule that says if your insurance ever changes, you'll be cancelled.'
Spokespersons for Landrieu and Pryor did not respond to emails seeking comment.
A Rasmussen poll released Monday showed that 58 per cent of Americans – a new high water mark –have an unfavorable view of the Affordable Care Act.
Mallory Factor, the South Carolina author and businessman who organizes The Charleston Meeting, told MailOnline that his events 'really do get a lot of real, candid comments from big-name politicians.'
'I'm not surprised Sen. Paul raised some eyebrows. These meetings give people an opportunity to see our national leaders outside of three-minute sound bites.'
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