California says 'NO' to Obama's Health Law Change

California officials rebuffed President Barack Obama Thursday and voted against letting insurers in the state reinstate canceled health policies, in a move that highlighted internal tensions among Democrats about the health law's direction. 

Mr. Obama proposed last week that insurers be allowed to restore the canceled policies, hoping to quiet a furor that broke out when it became clear that millions of Americans who bought individual coverage were losing it.

But some supporters of the president's Affordable Care Act said allowing the old policies to stay would harm the law's prospects for success. Meeting Thursday, the board of California's health-insurance exchange unanimously decided to stick to its stance blocking older policies that don't meet the law's coverage requirements. It won swift praise from some state lawmakers. 

"Bucking political pressure and staying the course is the smartest way to keep health insurance costs down and maintain the consumer protections that are at the heart of the Affordable Care Act," said Assembly Speaker John Pérez, a Los Angeles Democrat. "Today's decision was the right thing to do, and sends a powerful signal to the rest of the nation since California is leading in the implementation of the Affordable Care Act."

The dilemma for Democrats: If additional states go California's way, more people who may have preferred their old plans will lose them, despite the president's promise, now withdrawn, that the health law would allow people to keep plans they liked. 

Among states with Democratic governors, nine including California have said they won't allow carriers to renew the plans in 2014, seven have said they will and four were still deciding as of Thursday.

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