Sebelius: It Was Controversial Including Clause Permitting Plans To Continue

THUNE: "Doesn't it knowingly violate the president and your promise that, if you like your health care plan you can keep your health care plan? There was no caveats of the time. did not say if you like your health care plan, you can keep it, unless it gets canceled or unless it gets changed or unless we do not like it. It said if you like your health-care plan, you can keep it. Period. The president said that over and over and over again. And yet how can you go out knowing what you know and allow the president to continue to say that? And for you and other members of the administration to continue saying that?"
SEBELIUS: "Again, senator, that is what the grandfather clause was all about in the first place. It was very controversial, but we felt it was important. We also, the grandfather clause is written into the larger employee plans with the same kind of caveat. I can tell you for the vast majority of people who get employer-based health care, are in a public plan, or are in the VA plan, or are in Medicare, a part of the insurance market -- their plans are very much in place. There is change coming in the individual marketplace, with consumer protections that many people have never enjoyed or experienced -- they don't have the plan they had in 2013."
THUNE: "So people in the individual market, Do you think Americans in that market should be able to keep plans they like even if the government does not approve of them?"
SEBELIUS: "If the plan was in place from the time the law was passed, that is what the grandfather clause said, sir."
THUNE: "I think most will -- most Americans believe in grace, most Americans are pretty forgiving people. They will tolerate and accept honest mistakes. But to me, this is a dishonest mistake. This is a dishonesty. You have been misleading the American people and the president has. I would much rather say 'you we were wrong, yeah we weren't telling the truth.' It is the Pinocchio thing. You have four Pinocchios on the statement. It just strikes me -- I think people would be accepting if you didn't -- accepted of it if you would take it off the website. It is not a true statement, never was a true statement. One thing that when people were sold this, it was based upon. I think it's a tragedy the American people bought into this and that you all knew full well it wasn't going to be the case."