Obamacare

If your health insurance plan was canceled thanks to President Obama’s problematic ObamaCare law, you may qualify for a “catastrophic” insurance plan available through the insurance exchanges in your state.

The White House announced the new changes on its blog on Thursday. Some critics called the announcement “legislation by blog.”

A Dec. 23 deadline looms to purchase health policies to be eligible for coverage beginning Jan. 1, Bloomberg.com reports.

The Obama administration had hoped that millions of young, healthy people with canceled insurance plans would migrate into the insurance exchanges via Healthcare.gov. But the website has been plagued by technical glitches and security issues since its launch on October 1st.

Republicans accuse the Obama administration of climbing into bed with the insurance companies who canceled more than 5 million policies in the hopes of forcing those people into the government insurance exchanges. But consumers complain that even the cheapest bronze plans are more expensive than their old plans.

Millions are opting to go without insurance — which could spell disaster for Obama and his insurance company cronies.

Meanwhile, insurance companies whine that this latest change in the ObamaCare law risks destabilizing the new exchange marketplaces if younger, healthier people who now carry cheap policies opt out of buying more expensive replacement coverage.

“This latest rule change could cause significant instability in the marketplace and lead to further confusion and disruption for consumers,” Karen Ignagni, the president of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry’s Washington lobby group, said in an e-mail from a spokesman.