{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://herrerabeutler.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=362836", "Keeping Your Health Care is a Broken Promise", "2013-11-24", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "WA", "Jaime Herrera Beutler", "H001056", "herrerabeutler.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "One of\u00a0the central promises made by the President and supporters of the new health care law\u00a0was that if you liked your health care plan, under the new law, you could keep it.\u00a0 Unfortunately, that promise would not be kept.\u00a0 More than 290,000 policy-holding families and individuals in Washington and more than 4.8 million nationally have received notices that their current plans are being cancelled.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The massive problems with the health care exchange websites have only compounded folks\u2019 anxiety about the law. Since their implementation on October 1, the online marketplaces have been plagued by massive technical problems, breaches of personal information, incorrect pricing, and outages.\u00a0 In Oregon, problems are so bad that after seven weeks not a single person has been able to sign up for a new health care plan online.\u00a0 In Washington, only 11,740 have signed up for the qualified health plans, and the exchange needs many more signups just to stay afloat.\u00a0 When Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), an architect of the law, stated last spring that the rollout seemed like a \u201ctrain wreck,\u201d\u00a0it now seems that he was being optimistic.\u00a0 Washington state resident Jessica Sanford was held up as a health care law \u201csuccess\u201d by the president during his October 21 nationally televised speech.\u00a0 This week, however, Jessica became the reluctant center of national attention when it was revealed that the website misquoted the cost and her health care plan and subsidy.\u00a0 Now, this 48 year old single mother is left with options she can\u2019t afford.\u00a0  I did not support the federal health care law because I feared it would fall short of its promises, and that its unintended consequences would do more harm than good to individuals and families in Washington.\u00a0 There is no satisfaction in having\u00a0my fears\u00a0come true. \u00a0From my own personal health care experiences, and as someone who must also find a new plan on the exchange, I worry for the moms, dads and seniors who have had the rug pulled out from under them.\u00a0  Cory, a resident of Centralia, told my office he\u2019d been dropped from his plan, and in this exchange his monthly premiums will double.\u00a0 Donna in Battle Ground is extremely worried that her premiums doubled but emergency room trips will also cost more.\u00a0  Tracey from Battle Ground was excited when Congress passed the law in 2010.\u00a0 She believed it would mean more affordable health care plans for herself and her employees.\u00a0 After being kicked off her old plan, however, she can no longer afford the increased premiums of a new plan.\u00a0 She\u2019ll be forced to drop health care for her employees and doubts she can afford insurance for herself. Thad Parker, a small business owner in Chehalis, had his insurance policy canceled.\u00a0 A plan similar to his old one is $289 more a month, with a $2,500 higher deductible.\u00a0 Thad told me that between keeping his business afloat, providing health care for his three children and maintaining all of his employees, one will likely give. To his credit, President Obama took action when both President Clinton and a Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives called for a sensible change to the law allowing people to keep their old plans.\u00a0 While I applaud the President\u2019s willingness to\u00a0begin addressing the law\u2019s problems, it was disappointing when officials in Washington decided to defy him and deny Cory, Donna, Tracey, Thad and Southwest Washington residents any hope of keeping their health care plans. Such are the consequences of a law that was well-intended but so poorly designed.\u00a0 It has empowered bureaucrats in Olympia and Washington, DC to become increasingly involved in health care decisions for families in Kelso, Longview, Toledo, and Woodland.\u00a0 These are decisions best made by families themselves at the kitchen table or with their doctors. Many in Congress who initially supported the law are beginning to abandon it.\u00a0 More than $390 million in taxpayer money was spent setting up the broken websites and exchanges, and tens of millions more will be required to make them even semi-functional.\u00a0 If middle-income and healthy individuals continue to stay away from the health care exchanges, costs will continue to rise for others.\u00a0  The reality is that for the foreseeable future, the law isn\u2019t going anywhere.\u00a0 If there are targeted fixes that will provide relief to the many people harmed by this law, I will support them.\u00a0 However, if the problems persist and Americans continue to suffer under this law, I believe enough of us \u2013 Republican, Democrat, and Independent \u2013 will come together to say \u201cenough is enough\u201d and will finally pursue the patient-centered policy reforms that will deliver affordable, quality health care to all residents. Read this article online at The Daily News by clicking here.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://herrerabeutler.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=362836"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7172429468482733, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}