Obama: "You can keep your doctor!"

Remember when Obama said the Republicans were just trying to scare you about Obamacare . . . that you could absolutely keep your doctor?

We now find that many insurers are "significantly limiting" your choice of doctors and hospitals. Insurers say they are forced into holding down costs, and the only way they can do that is to create smaller networks of doctors and hospitals who will accept less than others. Adam Linker, a health policy analyst at the North Carolina Justice Center, said consumers should be prepared for "much tighter, narrower networks" of doctors and hospitals.

Insurers say that having an insurance card does not guarantee access to specialists or other providers. The Health Research Institute of PricewaterhouseCoopers said that "insurers passed over major medical centers" when selecting providers in some states. In New Hampshire, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the only provider in New Hampshire offering plans on the Obamacare exchange, excludes 10 of the state's 26 hospitals.

But you can absolutely keep your doctor!

"Insurers starting to limit choice." The Dallas Morning News; September 23, 2013; p. 1A.