It is a catchy sound bite that has turned around to bite the hand that fed it to the country: If you like the health insurance you have, you can keep it.
President Barack Obama's credibility has taken a hit over that line, which he tossed off in various versions during countless campaign stops and policy speeches.
The damage comes not just from the fact that it does not happen to be true, which hundreds of thousands who had bought coverage on the individual market are learning as they receive notices of cancellation from their insurers. The deeper problem with that promise is that it attempted to gloss over the fact that choices and trade-offs were part of the effort to reform the sprawling, troubled U.S. health care system.