--- title: Obama Wins 'Lie of the Year' from Politifact description: A statement by President Barack Obama has been given the dubious honor of “Lie of the Year” with a rating of “Pants on Fire” by... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7179951/lie-of-the-year-obama-quote-on-keeping-your-healthcare/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-12-12T23:19:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-18T06:18:34.445Z article:section: Politics og:title: This Obama quote won Politifact's "Lie of the Year" og:description: A statement by President Barack Obama has been given the dubious honor of “Lie of the Year” with a rating of “Pants on Fire” by... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7179951/lie-of-the-year-obama-quote-on-keeping-your-healthcare/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0aab2958fa611f2e/698a9cc8b3fce33bc50d4353/360_pol_obamacare_1119.jpg?branch=production&width=485&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 485 og:image:height: 273 og:image:alt: U.S. President Obama pauses while he talks about the Affordable Care Act at the White House in Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Obama quote won Politifact's "Lie of the Year" twitter:description: A statement by President Barack Obama has been given the dubious honor of “Lie of the Year” with a rating of “Pants on Fire” by... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0aab2958fa611f2e/698a9cc8b3fce33bc50d4353/360_pol_obamacare_1119.jpg?branch=production&width=485&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) # Lie of the Year: Obama Quote on Keeping Your Healthcare > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Dec 12, 2013 11:19 PM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama pauses while he talks about the Affordable Care Act in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, November 14, 2013\. Obama bowed to political pressure from his fellow Democrats on Thursday and announced a plan to let insurers renew for one year the health plans for Americans whose policies would be otherwise canceled due to Obamacare. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS HEALTH) U.S. President Barack Obama pauses while he talks about the Affordable Care Act in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, November 14, 2013\. Obama bowed to political pressure from his fellow Democrats on Thursday and announced a plan to let insurers renew for one year the health plans for Americans whose policies would be otherwise canceled due to Obamacare. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS HEALTH) Reuters by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Dec 12, 2013 11:19 PM UTC A statement by President Barack Obama has been given the dubious honor of “Lie of the Year” with a rating of “Pants on Fire” by the Tampa Bay _Times_’ [Politifact](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2013/dec/12/lie-year-if-you-like-your-health-care-plan-keep-it/). “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it,” the president said, over and over again, while trying to sell Americans on the Affordable Care Act before it was enacted. It was a comforting promise to those concerned that the government would force unwanted changes on their health insurance plans. “But the promise was impossible to keep,” Politifact said in its announcement. Cancellation letters sent to four million Americans notifying them that under Obamacare they could not in fact, keep their health insurance prompted the president to issue a rare apology. In 2012, the [Pulitzer-Prize winning](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2009/apr/20/politifact-wins-pulitzer/) Politifact gave Lie of the Year to a Mitt Romney campaign claim that Obama was responsible for Chrysler moving a Jeep manufacturing operation to China. In 2011, Democrats’ claim that Republicans in Congress voted to end Medicare was given the title. A reader’s poll signaled broad agreement on the Lie of the Year, Obama’s quote receiving 59% compared to 8%, in second place, for Senator Ted Cruz false statement that Congress was exempt from the Affordable Care Act. Critics have pointed out that when Politifact looked at the same quote in June, the site gave the comment a rating of [“Half True](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jun/29/barack-obama/barack-obama-says-under-his-health-care-law-those-/),” a far cry from the “Pants on Fire” rating it received in Thursday’s announcement. \[[Politifact](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2013/dec/12/lie-year-if-you-like-your-health-care-plan-keep-it/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7179951/lie-of-the-year-obama-quote-on-keeping-your-healthcare/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7179951/lie-of-the-year-obama-quote-on-keeping-your-healthcare/"},"headline":"Lie of the Year: Obama Quote on Keeping Your Healthcare","datePublished":"2013-12-12T23:19:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-18T06:18:34.445Z","description":"A statement by President Barack Obama has been given the dubious honor of “Lie of the Year” with a rating of “Pants on Fire” by...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7179951/lie-of-the-year-obama-quote-on-keeping-your-healthcare/","keywords":["Obamacare","Obama","ACA"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0aab2958fa611f2e/698a9cc8b3fce33bc50d4353/360_pol_obamacare_1119.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0aab2958fa611f2e/698a9cc8b3fce33bc50d4353/360_pol_obamacare_1119.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. President Obama pauses while he talks about the Affordable Care Act at the White House in Washington","caption":"U.S. President Obama pauses while he talks about the Affordable Care Act at the White House in Washington","creditText":"Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7179951/lie-of-the-year-obama-quote-on-keeping-your-healthcare/","name":"Lie of the Year: Obama Quote on Keeping Your Healthcare"}}]}] ```