Are the cancelled health care policies really "substandard" or is that another misleading statement?

The spin being spun by the ACA apologists regarding the hundreds of thousands of medical insurance policies that have been cancelled is that those policies were "substandard" and those misguided policy holders will be much better off because they will be forced to buy the good kind of insurance they should have had anyway if they knew what was best for them and or if those " fly by night" insurance companies had not screwed them over. One commentator had the audacity to suggest that the administration should be bragging about it.

See here for a thoughtful refutation of that simplistic dismissal of what is a really big deal for thousands of Americans who liked their policy but cannot keep them as promised. One site described President Obama's often quote comment in that regard as simply  "misleading" and another as the president simply " misspoke" .The entire run up and sales job for the passage of ACA could generously be described as misleading while one health care blogger suggests that fraudulent  is a more apt descriptor.

Another critique of the "substandard policy" excuse is offered by the economist, Tyler Cowen here.

It is an empirical question as to whether their new, to be purchased plan is better or worse that the cancelled plan. Many opponents of ACA have the quaint view that the individual should make that decision while many proponents of ACA believe that such decisions are better made by experts.The issue is who should make that decision as to what type health insurance a person should purchase. Prior to ACA that decision process also included the prior question of should you buy any at all, most folks have been relieved of having to make that decision.

John Goodman has this excellent summary of what has happened so far  and how the public was mislead about what what going to happen .

Peter Boettke has this excellent commentary in which he has an opportunity to bring out the money quote by FA Hayek. which is :

"The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design."
 
Certainly, that would apply to the web site and I afraid  to most of the rest of Obamacare.

Goodman and other economists pointed out from close to day one the problems with ACA  while  the general public was largely kept in the dark by the unrelenting repetition of the major talking points  (you can keep your health care plan, your doctor, etc) by the administration and the echo chamber of the main stream press and the complicit actions of big insurance and the progressive medical elite who manage  the major medical professional organizations. (AMA, ACP etc).