(Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that "bad apple" insurance companies, not his signature healthcare law, are to blame for hundreds of thousands of people losing their coverage in the past few weeks.
As administration officials scrambled to fix technical problems on an online insurance marketplace that is central to the success of the Affordable Care Act, Obama blamed private insurers for a separate problem that has critics questioning his honesty.
The president has repeatedly promised that people who are happy with their health plans would not have to change coverage. But the termination of individual policies has given his Republican opponents scope to criticize the program they have tried to stop since its inception in Obama's first term.
Republicans' assertion that Obama had broken a major promise to the electorate was seen as potentially more damaging than the glitch-ridden website rollout on October 1
The law, known popularly as Obamacare, requires insurers to offer a higher level of coverage. Individuals who do not have policies that meet the new standards may see their policies canceled at the end of the year, or may find that the monthly payments are beyond what they can afford.
Speaking in Boston, Obama said those who are getting dropped will be able to find new options through the online insurance exchanges, or marketplaces, established under the 2010 law.
"Just shop around in the new marketplace," he said. "You're going to get a better deal."
He stressed that the law included a provision that allowed Americans to keep bare-bones plans created before the law was signed as long as insurers did not change or cancel them.
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