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President Barack Obama pauses while speaking about his signature health care law, Thursday at the White House. Bowing to pressure, Obama said he'd permit continued sale of individual insurance plans that have been canceled because they failed to meet coverage standards under the health care law.

(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

In a surprise announcement, Washington state's insurance commissioner broke rank with President Barack Obama and said he would not allow insurers to extend policies to 290,000 residents who've been told they will soon lose their coverage.

Washington State Health Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler said in a statement late this morning that he did not believe Obama’s proposal was a good deal for the state.

Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler

“In the interest of keeping the consumer protections we have enacted and ensuring that we keep health insurance costs down for all consumers, we are staying the course,” said Kreidler, a Democrat. “We will not be allowing insurance companies to extend their policies. I believe this is in the best interest of the health insurance market in Washington.”

Oregon Insurance Commissioner Laura Cali was not immediately available for comment. But Insurance Division spokeswoman Cheryl Martinis said officials were considering options.

Earlier this week, Cali said she would not delay cancellation dates affecting an estimated 140,000 Oregonians, despite public confusion and pressure from national Democrats facing re-election next year to offer a fix.

In an already confusing time, Cali said on Tuesday, "we think that adding more communication, different options, changing dates could possibly be confusing and actually I think make this more difficult.”

Earlier today, Obama announced changes to his health care law that would give insurance companies the option to continue offering consumers plans that were otherwise slated to be canceled, most of them by Dec. 31. The cancelled policies did not offer basic coverage required under the new Affordable Care Act.

The administrative changes are good for just one year, though senior administration officials said they could be extended if problems with the law persist. Obama announced the changes at the White House.

"This fix won't solve every problem for every person, but it's going to help a lot of people," the president said.

He acknowledged that "we fumbled the rollout of this health care law" and pledged to "just keep on chipping away at this until the job is done."

Washington state officials estimate about half of the 290,000 residents who will need to buy new coverage will qualify for a premium subsidy on the state's exchange.



Kreidler noted in his statement that the exchange is enrolling thousands of consumers. Oregon's online exchange, meanwhile, has not enrolled anyone, forcing employees to hand-process paper applications.

"I have serious concerns about how President Obama's proposal would be implemented and more significantly, its potential impact on the overall stability of our health insurance market," said Kreidler, who's held his elected post since 2001.



In a speech this morning, Obama also promised to work to regain the trust of the American people.

"I think it's legitimate for them to expect me to have to win back some credibility on this health care law in particular and on a whole range of these issues in general," he said.

Obama has been under enormous pressure from congressional Democrats to give ground on the cancellation issue under the health care overhaul, a program likely to be at the center of next year's midterm elections for control of the House and Senate.

-- Brent Hunsberger; The Associated Press contributed to this report.