President Obama accomplished something yesterday that most presidents before him have struggled with severely.
The president apologized.
Obama told Chuck Todd during an interview with NBC News at the White House that he was sorry for promising Americans that they would be able to keep their current health care plans, and that some of them are being forced to change.
"I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me," the president said.
According to the Associated Press and Yahoo News, some 3.5 million people have had their health care plans canceled. Most of these are individuals who purchased private health care plans and not health care provided through employment.
What was unclear about the process that has now become apparent is that once a health care provider changes the policy—a frequent practice—a current insured person's plan is not grandfathered in, making their existing plans void. So people who purchased insurance before the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010 lost that insurance once changes were made after it was signed.
Since individual health care plans changing often is common, some 14 million people will be responsible for making some kind of health care plan adjustments, Yahoo News reports.
"We've got to work hard to make sure that they know we hear them," the president told Chuck Todd. "We are going to do everything we can to deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of this."
Read more at NBC News.