Patch it Up

House Passes Obamacare Fix Bill

Would extend old insurance plans.

The House of Representatives on Friday passed a "fix" to the Affordable Care Act that would allow insurers to continue selling plans that do not comply with the new law. Both Obama and Congress were moved to act by criticism from Americans whose insurance plans were dicontinued under new Obamacare regulations despite the president's assurances that people could keep plans they liked. The House measure, which was supported by 39 Democrats in addition to most Republicans, goes further than the administrative fix President Obama proposed Thursday, which would allow non-regulation plans to continue through most of 2014. The canceled plans were part of how the law was intended to work, and critics of the "fix" argue that the extensions of the new regulations will derail the law.